Hi, friends. Let’s get down to business.

Over the weekend, I saw ARC Stage’s production of Rockabye, the Canadian premiere of Joanna Murray Smith’s 2009 play. Rockabye is about aging pop star Sidney’s (Deborah Drakeford) attempts to hold on to fame and success while concurrently fulfilling her desire to adopt a baby and start a family. The play is marketed as sort of a dark comedy, though it delves into some deep issues. Beyond narcissism, fame and capitalism, the play explores motherhood, interracial adoption, and the West’s role (if any) in helping Africa. I like how it’s somewhat ambiguous what the playwright truly believes.

This was my first ARC show, and I was really impressed with the production quality. The set is sleek and the tech cues are streamlined. Hanging from the centre of the stage is a pop-art style painting of the lead character, which dynamically lights up and changes colour throughout the show. Cool effect.

I was also impressed with the talent – Rockabye has many well-known names from the Toronto theatre community, and they elevate the material. Truly fantastic all around, but a few shoutouts:

• Shauna Thompson, playing the adoption case worker Layla, is delightful. I saw Shauna in Crow’s Bad Roads (that intense war play that made me thoroughly uncomfortable), so it was nice to see her in something completely tonally different. Shauna has fantastic range, she was great in Bad Roads, and she’s equally sympathetic and grounded in this one.
• Christopher Allen as Tobias, the journalist with a secret. Sometimes Tobias’ character feels as if he was written to stand on a soapbox and deliver a political speech, but Christopher Allen makes the lines sound authentic to the character. Again, I saw Christopher in Coal Mine’s The Master Plan a few months ago, so it’s nice to see him in a more dramatic, emotionally charged role.
• Sergio Di Zio as music manager Alfie is a scene stealer. So funny.

While I think the production is well-executed and the cast is solid, I have some reservations about the play itself. Spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution:

First, the last 20 minutes of the play feels tonally different from the rest of the show (shifting from dark comedy to intense drama), and I’m not sure if the build-up is justified.

Second, there are some plot gaps/things that don’t make sense to me. Two examples for ya:

1. Julia (Julie Lumsden), Sidney’s personal assistant, seduces her friend Jolyon (Nabil Trabousli) and gets him to sleep with her, with the secret goal of getting pregnant so she can start a family with her girlfriend/wife. Julia does, in fact, get pregnant, and she doesn’t intend to tell Jolyon that it’s his baby or that she set him up, but the info slips out accidentally. The play effectively dismisses her culpability; Julia tells Jolyon that he’ll have no paternal role and is irrelevant, and he seemingly accepts this. This is some sketchy behaviour.
2. Adoption case worker Layla (Shauna Thompson) is in town to meet with Sidney to evaluate if she’s fit to adopt a baby from Africa. Layla enters into a sexual relationship with reporter Tobias (Christopher Allen), who was at Sidney’s house writing an article about her latest album. Layla, feeling close to Tobias, divulges confidential information about Sidney’s adoption application, and it turns out that Tobias has very strong opinions about white westerners adopting African babies (in short, he’s not a fan). Tobias not only writes a scathing article about Sidney and tears her apart on his talk show, but he pressures Layla into not approving Sidney’s application, saying that he’s in love with Layla, but that he’ll never speak to her again if she lets Sidney adopt the child. Basic question, but isn’t Layla divulging confidential information to a reporter a serious ethical breach? Moreover, I’m no social worker, but I’m pretty sure that Layla is no longer an unbiased party capable of fairly evaluating Sidney as a candidate. Layla should recuse herself from the process.

Finally, something I was thinking about as I left the show is that playwright Murray Smith is a white woman from Australia, and, as far as I could gather from online research, has not personally adopted a child of a different ethnic background. I’m curious what her connection to the material is.

Overall, the production was good. The acting was good. The writing didn’t knock it out of the park for me. At times the dialogue felt preachy, at times the plot felt contrived, and at times the play felt disjointed. It made me think, though.

Thanks again to PR Katie for the invite! Rockabye is playing at the Factory Theatre in downtown Toronto until Feb. 11, 2024. You can purchase tickets here.

Featured image: Deborah Drakeford and cast in Rockabye; photo by Sam Moffatt