Tarragon for Remembrance: Half Life, About Memory, Identity and Love, Gets World Premiere in Toronto Feb. 22 | Playbill

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News Tarragon for Remembrance: Half Life, About Memory, Identity and Love, Gets World Premiere in Toronto Feb. 22 John Mighton's Half Life, a new play about seniors meeting in a home for veterans, gets its world premiere in Toronto beginning Feb. 22 in a co-production by Tarragon Theatre and Necessary Angel.

The play, presented on the Mainspace at Tarragon, asks, "What shines through when memory fades away?" In it, "Clara (Carolyn Hetherington) and Patrick (Eric Peterson) meet in a nursing home for veterans and their families," according to Tarragon notes. "They begin to fall in love, thinking they are rekindling an old flame. Have they ever met before? As Clara and Patrick's middle-aged children watch their faltering parents, the older couple rediscovers beauty and love in the twilight of their lives."

Daniel Brooks directs a cast that includes Laura de Carteret, Barbara Gordon, Carolyn Hetherington, Maggie Huculak, Randy Hughson, Diego Matamoros and Eric Peterson.

The creative team includes set and costume designer Dany Lyne, lighting designer Andrea Lundy, sound designer Richard Feren and stage manager Crystal Salverda.

Director Brooks said in production notes, "John Mighton's Half Life is a play about memory — or more precisely — forgetting. The central idea is that we are defined as much by what we forget as we are by what we remember. And given that identity is contingent on what we remember, how does the loss of memory affect identity? Under investigation is the following: What is it that constitutes self, and what might be this thing we call the soul?"

John Mighton is a Dora, Chalmers and Governor General's Award-winning playwright (Possible Worlds, A Short History of Night, Body and Soul, Scientific Americans and The Little Years). His play Possible Worlds was made into a full-length feature film directed by director-playwright Robert Lepage. Mighton has completed a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Toronto and has lectured in philosophy at McMaster University. In 1998 he developed JUMP, a successful school program designed to reach children who are having difficulty in math, which inspired his best-selling book "The Myth of Ability" published by House of Anansi Press. He is currently doing his post-doctoral research on knot theory and graph theory at the Fields Institute.

Half Life is Mighton's first new work for the stage in nine years. Opening is March 1, following previews from Feb. 22. Performances continue to April 3.

For information, call (416) 531-1827 or visit tarragontheatre.com.

 
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