Adapted from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s famous short story The Yellow Wallpaper McGill’s Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre’s production of the same name holds true to its original narration.
The play opens with two women, clad in starkly different clothing, sitting in a relatively bare bedroom. Until the last minutes of the play, these two actors are the lone stars of the entire play. The stage is set with only an armchair, a bed, a desk, and of course, awful yellow wallpaper. Each scene is cued by the dampening of the lights and a transformation of each woman’s location in the room.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Jane is a woman diagnosed with temporary nervous depression by her ever-absent physician husband, and is confined to her room in isolation with orders to rest and nothing more. Left alone for weeks, except for some nights with her husband, Jane becomes obsessed with the deteriorating wallpaper in her bedroom.
As the play progresses, Jane’s mental illness becomes more and more visible. Jane’s husband is not understanding of her needs and dismisses her requests to visit family and friends, as well as her desire to get out of the room and leave their rented home. The two actresses portraying Jane together display the struggle of mental illness in a believable way that draws sympathy from the audience.
Director Grace Jackson’s personal touches to the short story are clear from the very start with her decision to cast two women as Jane. The two actresses alternate the original story’s narrations with dramatic talent and poise in a way that highlights the poor understanding of mental illness in the 1900s.
When asked about Jackson’s decision to have two women as Jane, McGill students Rachel Stone and Connor Spencer had similar opinions. Stone said “on a pragmatic level, it was easier to carry the show with two actors playing the role, so that Connor and I could play off of each other…[and] that the presence of two narrators enforces the idea that the character has only herself to keep her company.” Spencer replied that “having two narrators…manages to emphasize [Jane’s] isolation – the only stimulation she receives is from herself.”
With haunting narration, incredible acting, and a truly creepy closing scene with Jane’s husband, Tuesday Night Café Theatre’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a must-see this week.
For more information, check out the Facebook event page. For tickets click here.
Location: Tuesday Night Café Theatre, 3485 McTavish Street
Showtimes: January 14th – January 17th at 16:00
Photos taken by Sahar Balvardi