Casey & Diana

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – Casey & Diana

Playwright – Nick Green

Production Company/Theatre space – (professional) Alberta Theatre Projects / The Martha Cohen Theatr

e, The Werklund Centre.

Length – 2 Act (2 hour, 20 mins, one intermission)

Genre/s – Tragedy

Premise – It’s 1991 and Thomas is at Casey House, a hospice for men dying of AIDS, preparing for the arrival of Princess Diana.

Why this play? Why now? – While no comparison can be made about the tsunami of deaths in the 80s and 90s with today’s LGBTIA+ battles, this play, based on a historic visit, is a reminder of how fear ripped apart and killed so many.

Curiosities – I wonder if it has the same impact and resonance for those of us who lived through and had losses during that horrendous time. I muse at what our world would be like if we hadn’t lost so many artists, singers, designers, directors, actors…

Notable Moment – The end.

Notable writing – Loosely based on a real event, Nick Green has crafted a beautiful script. Nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play and recipient of the 2024 Theatre Critic choice award (Toronto) and the heritage Toronto Public History Award this is one of the most produced plays in Canada, and deservedly so. In this nonlinear plot, Green combines brutality matter-of-factly and without pity, sparking exuberance balanced with reverence. Green doesn’t dip into hackneyed tropes, and this play deserves to be on the shelf next to The Normal Heart and Angels in America.

Notable performances – Nathan Cuckow is perfect as Thomas the witty warrior cheerleader who has outlived four other roommates. Current co-patient Andre played by Josh Travnik is one of the many ostracized by their family and he slowly breaks our hearts. The always enjoyable, Norma Lewis is the consummate compassionate nurse, aided by April Banigan the overly invested volunteer. Emily Howard should be hired to play Diana in all future shows and whoever writes The Tunnel play. Helen Knight has the unenviable job of being the slightly manic, self-involved, de facto antagonist turned ally.

Notable design/Production – I wasn’t sure why Set Designer Hanne Loosen put us on a thrust stage … until the last scene. Here the shape of the stage follows the lines of an iconic costume piece perfectly and enables us to experience a crossover fashion runway/nave image.

Notable direction – Dealing with a thrust stage requires more business to address the inherent angles and sightlines but Lana Michelle Hughs works out it all out. It would be easy to see lesser productions slip into melodrama; happily Hughs keeps us on the side of honesty.

One reason to see this show – To date the best show of the ATP season.