London, Ontario Review: "The Runner" at the Grand Theatre
David Rabjohn, Associate Toronto Critic
The many horrific elements of both the holocaust and the Arab/Israeli conflicts have been documented for many years through politics, art and history. The hypocrisy of various doctrines, from all sides, has been exposed with literature, art and music. Christopher Morris’s play The Runner, now playing at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, is a unique effort to expose that hypocrisy and challenge the audience to confront moral dilemmas especially in the context of a divisive middle east. This award winning one man show starring Gord Rand was created over recent years in both Israel and Canada and had a celebrated premiere at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto.
The heart of the story is based on a Jewish organization, Zaka, comprised of all volunteers. Its mandate is to be a non-governmental search and rescue team that responds to both terrorist attacks and natural disasters. It is partly motivated by Jewish burial laws ensuring that all human remains are collected and identified. It is important to note, especially in the context of the main character’s experiences, that Zaka now includes members from all religious and cultural groups and is a growing international phenomenon. Any Zaka response is two-pronged: to recover human remains and to assist victims (which requires triage.) The demanding ethics of said triage is the moral heart of the story.
Jacob, a Zaka volunteer, outlines his experiences through the lens of an incident where triage compels him to rescue an Arab woman, purportedly a terrorist attacker. He is shocked by push back from colleagues and administrators who admonish his efforts – an informal policy of victims first and terrorists second challenges his moral fibre (and those of the audience.) Throughout the story, Jacob struggles alternately with his faith, his family and his social constructs. Gord Rand’s performance of Jacob’s extraordinary struggle is nothing short of astounding. The heavy lifting of a one-man performance duly noted, Mr. Rand exhausts the theatrical toolbox which includes emotional contortions, physicality, and haunting expressiveness.
At the centre of the unique staging is a large daunting treadmill which virtually never stops. Mr. Rand’s challenge is to negotiate, not only the play and his complex part, but also the speeding and slowing of his moving stage. Gillian Gallow’s set is clearly an extension of Jacob’s wild and unrelenting story. He is a runner, of sorts, and both his work and the emotional quandary it ignites, is never-ending. Even when Jacob stops, we see his stillness retreating backwards – his dilemma never ends. There is no stage right or left – Jacob can move only forward or backward – there are no viable off ramps for his purgatory. Like the physical geography of Israel itself, the stage is long and narrow perhaps personifying political blinders.
The soundscape (Alexander MacSween) and lighting design (Bonnie Beecher) are equally haunting. A single oboe pierces momentary darkness or the effect of echoing drips in a cave suggest glooming terror. Even the treadmill is a constant earful of unending doom that often screams out in panicky moments of despair. Singular pools of light illuminate and darken Jacob’s intense eyes – he moves through the varying light – it does not come to him.
This is not the whimsical song of rose-cheeked von Trapp children skipping over mountains escaping Nazis. Christopher Morris and Daniel Brooks’ project is a harsh and blinding invasion of hypocrisy – the audience is not meant to be comforted. Jacob laments the moral clash of honouring the Jewish dead and using Palestinian bodies as barter. As his Hippocratic oath is under siege, the audience, too, is challenged with the visceral questions of an ever-careening world and the cost of moral bankruptcy
Photo credit: Gillian Gallow
THE RUNNER
Written by Christopher Morris. Produced by Human Cargo Theatre and the Grand Theatre, London, Ontario
Cast: Gord Rand as Jacob.
Production Team: Daniel Brooks, Director. Gillian Gallow, set and costume design. Bonnie Beecher, lighting design. Alexander MacSween, composer and sound design.
Production runs through Nov. 16, 2019. Tickets at grandtheatre.com