In a time that often seems darker and more dangerous than ever before, a play premiering in Stratford will be depicting a radical compassion that director Andrew Kushnir hopes will parallel today.
Casey and Diana is a Stratford Festival commission starting previews today. Written by Nick Green and directed by Kushnir, it depicts the eponymous Casey House, an AIDS hospice in Toronto, as it prepares for the visit of Princess Diana in 1991.
Kushnir told StratfordToday that as much as Princess Diana is the most famous person in the play, the story is ultimately a local one.
“From a Canadian perspective, we have a lot of plays of that era, but very few that are anchored in a Canadian story … (This is) very much about the men in the House, but also the extraordinary caregivers and heroes in their midst.”
The AIDS epidemic during the 80s and 90s was life changing. It was an era which was fraught with tragedy and isolation for the queer community at the time, and one which seemingly did not have many public heroes.
Kushnir argues that there were heroes of that era. They were people who through their activism and compassion afforded those living with AIDS dignity. They were people like the workers at Casey House.
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While people were being met in hospitals with rubber gloves and hazmat suits, at Casey House they were met with a hug right off the street. They handed out candy on Halloween.
Casey House was trying to create a “radically compassionate environment,” as Kushnir explained. In their final days, those suffering from AIDS were dying from the disease and also dying a social death, by virtue of how stigmatized the 2SLGBTQ+ community was at the time.
The play has many parallels to today, most obviously being the COVID-19 pandemic, but Kushnir notes that the conflict is also evocative of the Ukrainian-Russian war, though that may not be as obvious.
In preparation for directing, Kushnir read many AIDS memoirs, and noticed a recurring reference to the period not as a plague, but as a war.
“I'm a Ukrainian-Canadian so metaphors right now live very, very loudly for me,” he said. ”I'm struck by the idea of a group of people who have been enlisted, have been drafted into a battle: a battle against their own bodies but also against a society at large that didn't show a great deal of compassion.”
The people at Casey House were more than victims of AIDS and the play is one that is embracing and celebrating them and honouring their full-personhood, as Kushnir said. AIDS was a part of their story, but not the totality of it.
Casey and Diana takes the stage at the Studio Theatre beginning Tuesday (8 p.m., sold out).
It opens on June 1, the first play to open during the 2023 season. It runs until June 17.
Given the sensitive nature of the play, the Stratford Festival is providing a post-show discussion facilitated in the Reflection Space, accessed by exiting through the main lobby doors and turning left outside the theatre.
There, a selection of Casey House memorial quilts hang. Since 1988, volunteer-created quilts are made in honour of those that pass away at Casey House.
Kushnir believes that this story is one that is going to be especially poignant this year.
“I think, for all of us who've been through this pandemic era, that's gonna really land on folks … I think it's going to be a very cathartic space.”
To purchase tickets, visit the Festival’s website.
Director’s Notes is an ongoing series from StratfordToday, featuring interviews with Stratford Festival directors; discussing their project, their scope, and their goals for this year’s production.
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