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Information highwayman >> Having explores our love affair with outlaws by AMY BARRATT The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees / The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas....
"The highwayman of the early 18th century became a folk hero, an aristocrat of crime," writes Brennan in her notes on the play, "and was presented to us through romantic ballads as brave and noble, worthy of our sympathy and admiration, when in fact he robbed, raped, betrayed and often murdered. Why are we so fascinated by this hero on the stolen horse?" Having attempts to answer that question in a contemporary context. Indeed, it's rare that we see anything as up-to-the-minute as this play onstage at a major theatre. Get this: the father in the story runs an environmental waste management company out of his home office, while his teenage daughter spends most of her time on the Internet. The title refers to the over-emphasis on material things in our society. "Kit is such a bold writer," says actress Stephanie McNamara. "The images in this play are very theatrical, and it's played in a theatrical way, but also juxtaposed with realistic scenes of domestic life." McNamara, who was an impish Viola in last season's Twelfth Night, plays Manon, a business associate and romantic interest of the father, David Dafoe. (The family name is an acknowledgement of another of Brennan's inspirations, author Daniel Defoe, whose Moll Flanders portrays a money-worshipping society that reminded her of our own.) Into the key-punching, cell-phoning world of Having, a dashing highwayman suddenly appears. "He represents the dark, seductive force that we all have in our lives," says McNamara. He may also be a metaphor for the dangers that exist for young people making dubious friends online. What lonely teenage girl could resist the Highwayman's smooth talk to "the landlord's black-eyed daughter": Then look for me by moonlight, watch for me by moonlight / I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way. The poem has been set to music for this premiere production by composer David Sereda, and McNamara, a classically trained soprano as well as an actress, is pulling double duty. When I spoke to her last week, she had just finished recording the vocals which will be scattered throughout the show. Having is directed by Rona Waddington, an ex-Montrealer who now lives in Paris. Erin, the daughter, is played by Helen King, fresh from her turn as one of Miss Brodie's girls. Playing David is John Robinson, a Toronto actor who can be seen as Coach Bob in the film Simon Birch. Hugh Thompson, most recently seen at Centaur in The Glace Bay Miner's Museum, plays the Highwayman, otherwise known as Jemmy Ferguson. Carolyn Hetherington rounds out the cast as Erin's grandmother, who first recalls the words of Noyes' poem, thus conjuring up the bandit in his "coat of claret velvet." Having runs till March 28 at Centaur Theatre; 288-3161. Tickets $2935, $17 for students
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To anyone who went to high school in Canada, those lines may sound vaguely familiar. They're the beginning of Alfred Noyes' poem The Highwayman, a favourite of spinster English teachers and swooning teenage girls everywhere. The poem, and the romantic image it presents of the outlaw, figure prominently in Kit Brennan's play Having, which premieres tonight (Thurs., Feb. 18) at Centaur.