Controlled Damage starts with an explosion — the Halifax explosion. It’s an appropriate start. The play, which opened at Neptune Theatre on Jan. 14 and will run until Feb. 2, is itself an eruption. Written by Andrea Scott and directed by Cherissa Richards, it follows the life of Halifax civil rights activist and businesswoman Viola Desmond (Deborah Castrilli) from age three, when Desmond survived the Halifax explosion, to her death in New York City at 50.
The first half of the play explores the lead up to the moment in 1946 when Desmond refused to leave the main floor of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, N.S., which was unofficially reserved for white people. Despite offering to pay the difference in ticket price, Desmond was denied the opportunity to stay and was ultimately arrested after refusing to leave. She spent a night in jail and faced a future of legal battles.
In the first half, the audience is introduced to Desmond’s strong-willed personality. She starts out as a passionate schoolteacher, and being fired by her racist and sexist boss does little to sway her. Desmond persists and enrolls in beauty school in Montreal, eventually opening her own salon and beauty school in Halifax. Despite dissuasions from her husband Jack (Matthew G. Brown) that she should focus on staying home and look after the house, Desmond is not deterred from her passions.
It’s when she’s travelling through New Glasgow, on her way to a business trip to Sydney, that the pivotal theatre moment occurs. The remainder of the play dramatizes the fallout of the event.
Desmond is not viewed as a hero by all. While some friends rally to help her fight the charges, others question her motives, suggesting she may see herself as superior, for wanting to sit with the white patrons instead of in the designated area for Black individuals. Some don’t think she appreciates how far Black people have come — they believe she should be grateful that she is able to sit in the theatre at all. All of this is complicated by the fact that Desmond is of mixed race, with a white mother and a Black father. Desmond’s husband chides her for calling attention to herself, and their marriage eventually crumbles. Desmond moves to New York City, unsure of her decisions. The play ends as Desmond clutches her stomach, dying, as the moment in the movie theatre haunts her, sounds from the day echoing around.
Controlled Damage is not afraid to tell things as they are. It doesn’t tell a picture perfect story of Desmond’s life; the simplified version that we’ve been fed. It does not try to make Desmond’s life something it is not. And it does not end up wrapped in a neat, perfect bow. Instead, at the end of her life cut short, Desmond is still haunted by her decisions and unsure if she made the right choice.
Though the play isn’t a musical, it incorporates music powerfully: a lone fiddler moves across the stage throughout, playing stirring, jagged music. Sometimes the cast sings together, blending their strong powerful voices in unified song —- initially disjointed, but coming together in harmony.
However, the scenes, though emotive and powerful, sometimes drag on too long and begin to feel static. This isn’t helped by acting that at times feels forced and plastic, or the palpable lack of chemistry between Castrilli and Brown. This awkwardness is made worse by moments of actors stumbling over words, taking the audience out of what is otherwise an immersive experience.
But what the show lacked in chemistry, it made up for in other areas. The play does not let the physical space of Neptune’s Scotiabank Stage go unused. The theatre, conducive to the setting of a movie theatre the pivotal scene takes place in, allows for Castrilli to be seated in the audience for the scene of her arrest. The effect is one of complicity, with playgoers truly immersed in the scene as the barrier between the stage and the audience fades away.
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