Hothouse grapples with an increasingly aging population and an expanding prison system
Written and directed by the nationally-recognized playwright and University of Guelph professor Judith Thompson, Hothouse debuted at the George Luscombe Theatre on Nov. 11.
Originally commissioned and performed by Theatre Kingston, Hothouse is inspired by Merilyn Simonds’s 1996 creative non-fiction book The Convict Lover. The play is deeply rooted in Kingston—the story is centered around the Kingston Penitentiary and Queen’s University.
Thompson’s adaptation weaves imaginative narratives based on her personal experience of her mother moving into a nursing home, bank robber Ty Conn’s famous escape from Kingston Penitentiary in 1999, and the exchange of letters between the convict known as Daddy Long Legs and 17-year-old ingénue Phyllis Halliday in 1919.
Decorated by emotional musical numbers, Hothouse is a thrilling performance about the lives of prisoners and the lives of those who wait for them. The play is told in parallels: That of the comfortable but doomed life of seniors in nursing homes and the incarcerated prisoners of Kingston Penitentiary, as well as the hopeless love stories of Phyllis and her descendent Cassie, which are set almost a century apart.
Decades later, Phyllis still maintains her delusional infatuation with Daddy Long Legs, hoping for him to climb through her window and follow through on his promise of marriage. When Cassie, a Master’s student at Queen’s University, visits Kingston Penitentiary at her great-great-aunt Phyllis’s insistence, she meets Ty, a beautiful bank robber who happily accepts the love letters between Phyllis and Daddy Long Legs.
After several visits, during which they connect with one another while piecing together the narrative of the letters, Cassie and Ty realize that they can use the other person to their advantage. Cassie would have the opportunity to study a perfect research subject for her Master’s, and Ty would have a connection to the outside, and perhaps his only chance of escape. The importance of freedom, sacrifice, and choice are questioned throughout the play.
The cast of 13 university students and additional production staff have been in rehearsal since mid-September. In an interview with The Ontarion, Megan Peres—who plays Cassie—expressed her excitement in being cast.
“I have wanted to participate in a U of G mainstage production for a while. I auditioned last year in the fall semester, but sadly did not get cast. I have been a fan of Judith Thompson’s work since studying her play Perfect Pie a few years ago, and thus, I decided to audition again this year in hopes of getting any part. I was extremely happy upon getting the news that they wanted me to play Cassie.”
Highlights of the impressive student cast included Lauren McGinty as Young Phyllis with her soaring vocals during the musical numbers, and Holly Higa with her terrifyingly convincing performance of Big Nan.
Feature photo by Karen K. Tran.