Irish playwright Donal O’Kelly’s 2014 play Little Thing, Big Thing on stage now at Neptune Theatre’s Scotiabank Studio Theatre through May 26th, 2019 has all the elements of a comedy, a sassy nun, a feckin’ deadbeat soon to be ex-con whose been roped into doing just one last job, and a whodunnit caper that features a roll of film, a stolen Virgin Mary statue, and some stoned teenaged hippies. The twist is that the play isn’t a comedy, exactly, its hijinks are rooted in the very real threat of oil oligarchs silencing environmental activists in Nigeria, and doing so at all costs.
Sister Martha (Francine Deschepper) has recently returned to Ireland from working as a teacher in Nigeria and she has been given a roll of film and instructions to deliver it to Henry Barr in Ireland. She stops in at her (now abandoned) convent and is interrupted by Larry (Gordon Gammie), who is attempting to steal the aforementioned Virgin Mary statue. They are both confronted by a much more menacing figure wielding a gun and Sister Martha and Larry end up together in a car driving into the night together, running for their lives and away from an interconnected series of hitmen. Of course, it is revealed, they are after the film roll, and Sister Martha and Larry both must decide how much they are willing to risk to give light to a photograph that they have never seen, that may or may not help a cause that they are only cursorily connected with.
O’Kelly writes the play very clearly for two actors to play all the roles, and to help them he uses words in an onomatopoeic way to suggest a car engine, or the speed at which the car is going, in a way is that reminiscent of Improv, and does really capture that playful and more dangerous element of theatre, where one never knows what will happen next. Deschepper and Gammie have a difficult task because they have a very beautiful character arc to play with Sister Martha and Larry respectively, they both must be rooted in a complexity of emotions and changing objectives, but at the same time Deschepper and Gammie also leap into playing a myriad of supporting characters, with a torrent of other accents, again keeping with the playful, almost Improvisational nature of the play. It’s amazing to watch these actors manage to wear all these hats, without doing a disservice to the building of relationship, and unraveling of layers for their central characters. The only moment that gave me pause was Deschepper’s fleeting portrayal of a Nigerian character, which is obviously written into the script and central to the plot, but it feels awkward, and it took me out of the story for a moment.
One of the play’s central themes is an interrogation of how we serve the greater good. For many, since Sister Martha is a nun, it is immediately assumed that she is devoting her life to doing good works: charity, outreach, education. Larry, on the other hand, as a petty thief, may be seen by some as having nothing of value to contribute to society. We have begun to step away from these binaries, especially regarding the church, and to take a closer look to analyze exactly what the role of religious figures, like nuns, have been, and continue to be, in Colonialism, in child abuse, in war, and in various other types of oppression throughout the world. Sister Martha has good intentions, but that doesn’t mean that she hasn’t become complicit in a complex, dark intersection of Colonialism and Capitalism. In fact, this complicity is initially easier for Larry to see because his worldview inherently mistrusts those with the most power, and roots for those without it. Deschepper and Gammie do a beautiful job of showing how these two unlikely characters begin to come together and genuinely learn from one another in the pursuit of justice.
Jeremy Webb’s directing style is very well suited to this play. He makes good use of the entire theatre, which allows us to have a larger playing space to capture the long distances traveled by Sister Martha and Larry. Webb is excellent at harnessing the actors’ playfulness, and there are also moments that are both suspenseful and creepy. It’s a play that runs a real risk of being confusing, but the character changes are clear, the movement of the action is clear, and the pacing of the story remains clear as well. It takes a bit at the beginning to get your bearings and to settle into the plot, but once you’re in, the play takes you along for the ride right until the end.
I think it’s very clever of O’Kelly to structure this play like a true crime drama wrapped inside a Muppet Caper because the comedy is what connects us initially to these characters and to this story, but it’s the ending that ultimately stays with us after we leave the theatre. It’s clear also that while this particular story is set in Nigeria and centres on Scarab Oil, the story is much more universal, and it can be read both in literal terms and more allegorical ways as well. Like Sister Martha, most of us are well intentioned folks, but what complex complicities are we guilty of, and how can we do better to align our actions with our morals?
Little Thing, Big Thing plays at Neptune’s Scotiabank Studio Theatre (1593 Argyle Street) until May 26, 2019. Shows are Wednesday to Sunday at 7:30pm with 2:00pm shows on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $30.00-$46.00 For tickets please phone 902.429.7070, visit the Box Office at 1593 Argyle Street, or buy online at THIS WEBSITE.
You can follow Neptune Theatre on Social Media. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram (@NeptuneTheatre). YouTube.
