One of Daniel MacIvor's less frequently produced but most praised plays, You Are Here is about big themes and the smallness of life. This was one of MacIvor’s attempts to write a “deep,” existential play, where literally something universal becomes personal. Some would say he succeeded, others may be bored to yawns. It’s one of those plays in which half of the audience is guffawing away while the other half watches it quietly. (Some fell asleep.)
Yes, the text is philosophical and deals with big themes -- life and death and all that -- but the way MacIvor unveils the soap-opera-like story he created for his eight actors, things don’t seem that heavy. It’s smart writing, ringing of another of his better plays, In On It. The script isn’t waterproof, however, but the excellent performance of lead actress Tabitha Keast holds it all together.
After McIvor’s last play, I was a little deflated about his work, but pieces like this show what the man is able to do when he puts himself to it. These days he’s running high on the release of Trigger, the last movie of Toronto hero Tracy Wright that he scripted and debuted at the TIFF last month. To be checked out.
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