life with more cowbell

Filament Incubator is back again with its 5^th play of its #8playsin8months season, this time in association with Epigraph Collective on a production of Curtis te Brinke’s Tire Swing, directed by Sadie Epstein-Fine and running at Kensington Hall (in Kensington Market at 56C Kensington Ave., Toronto).

Four pre-teen friends playing on the edge of town go deep into the forest as twilight descends – and only three of them come out. Was it a shadow monster or a man they saw? And what happened to Kevin (Patrick Fowler)? Kevin’s sister Ellen (Nikki Haggart), and friends Mark (François Macdonald) and Lauren (Jocelyn Adema), struggle to come to terms with what happened – as well as their own sense of survivor guilt – as a town mourns a lost boy, presumed dead.

As the three friends grow up into high school seniors, they find they can’t deny what they saw in the forest that fateful night. The thing that didn’t make it into the police reports. The thing they’ve spoken of to no one – not even each other. Until now. Mark is convinced that something is after them. And they can all feel something watching them from darkness.

The cast does an awesome job with the storytelling. As the young group’s leader Kevin, Fowler brings a fearless, adventurous, devil-may-care attitude – along with something strange and otherworldly that you can’t quite put your finger on. And he gives their high school classmate David a cocksure but congenial confidence and presence; the school’s golden boy, David is brave on the rugby field, he can’t find the courage to come out and be open about his burgeoning relationship with Mark.

As Mark, Macdonald is the investigator of the group; cynical and not content with taking things at face value, he wants to know the truth – and he questions everything and isn’t afraid to believe the unthinkable. As Mark explores his sexuality, perhaps David reminds him of Kevin; and like their friend Lauren, he had a crush on Kevin when they were kids. Adema’s Lauren is the heart and soul of the group; a dreamy, star-gazing academic, she was the last one to see Kevin – and feels the most guilt for running away that night. As Kevin’s sister Ellen, Haggart is the emotion of their gang, especially the rage. An earthy soul, Ellen’s feelings emerge as physical sensations tied to the land, the trees, even her brother’s bedroom – left untouched in denial of his loss and anticipation of his return.

Part memory play, part ghost story, part coming of age story, Tire Swing scoops you up into a Stand By Me meets X-Files world of mystery and nightmare. The language is rich, even poetic at times; and the staging is atmospheric and spooky.

With shouts to designer Jason Thomson (set, costumes, lighting) for the eerie multi-media environment – featuring some very cool, evocative projection imagery – putting the audience in the middle of the forest, with the three surviving kids’ bedrooms around the edges.

A boy goes missing and a dark presence reaches out from the forest in lyrical, spooky Tire Swing.

Tire Swing continues at Kensington Hall until Oct 22; it’s an intimate space, so you may want to book tix in advance – and please note the 7:30 curtain time.

Up next, Filament Incubator joins forces with Little Black Afro Theatre to produce Filament Incubator producer/playwright Aaron Jan’s Swan, a sister piece to Tire Swing running November 3-13 in the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace.

In the meantime, check out the awesome trailer for Tire Swing by Andrew Pieroni: