By Christopher Douglas
The Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s season opener, The Cut, prominently features a banana on the program cover. The half-peeled banana has had the end of it bitten off and serves as a not-so-subtle metaphor for the subject of Jordi Mand’s newest script – at least that imagery is what WJT uses to set audience expectations: this is a play about circumcision.
Together for 15 years, Sarah (Hallie Seline) and Andrew (Wade Bogert-O’Brien) have experienced significant change in the past year. She is seven months pregnant; he has received a diagnosis of a medical condition; and the play begins with the pair unpacking boxes in the nursery of their new home. This two-hander features affectionate, vulnerable, and comforting dialogue alongside friendly sparring (scissor versus scissors – which is correct anyway?) as the play naturalistically looks at how a young couple loves.
However, the conflict that WJT had audiences anticipate comes to the foreground: should their unborn son undergo circumcision? The debate surrounding this surgical procedure addresses how a duo can know each other so well while also coming from different backgrounds. Sarah identifies with the Jewish culture she was raised in, remaining close still to her parents, who have frequently denigrated her relationship with non-Jew Andrew. Cue a pair of grounded performances from the actors as they examine their characters’ dissimilar perspectives surrounding religious rituals, bodily autonomy, community and conformity, and revisiting romantic regrets and old wounds.
The script jumps to a few days later partway through. The debate shifts from speaking less in hypotheticals and more to the language of moving forward. To represent the shift, lighting designer Larry Isacoff and sound designer Ashley Au create a colourful montage that impressed me with their skills while still feeling a touch long – possibly just to cover the costume change – in this hopeful human drama.
There are moments that feel underwritten (Andrew’s diagnosis and the emotions around it) and there are some that are overwritten (the fantasy duet about their hopes for the baby) but The Cut generally finds a good balance. The direction of Brendan McMurtry-Howlett helps this 80 minute play flow smoothly and feel as if the wall was taken off the nursery for us to observe these intimate moments between Sarah and Andrew. I suspect most performances will have at least a few nodding heads and chuckles of recognition from the audience.
Reading the playwright Jordi Mand’s program note preshow, I found myself thinking further about it after the performance. Mand points out that this is not a play about circumcision. I mean obviously it is but she’s right – it’s about more than that, it’s about a couple who “love each other deeply and discover that love doesn’t erase the differences between them” (Mand). Rather than being an issue play, this is a piece about their relationship. I wonder if more minimalist design and promotion might focus the attention on the characters more but I’ll find out the next time this solid world premiere receives a production.
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Christopher Douglas (he/him) has primarily been a producer or stage manager. He has worked on 40+ productions in a variety of venues including parks, a bed-and-breakfast, a former coffin factory, and on a literal island. His short plays and adaptations have been performed in academic and festival settings and he is currently exploring poetry and libretti. He has (very) occasionally been convinced to act. As a reader, he devours award-nominated scripts and, as a critic, he has a history of being outspoken. A Torontonian by birth and a graduate of York University, he now lives in Winnipeg.
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