This Must Be the Place: The CN Tower Show – Review

Theatre Passe Muraille's production of This Must Be the Place: The CN Tower Show is not so much a play about the CN Tower as a look at the evolution of the urban area illuminated by that distinctive beacon. It makes up part of an innovative fall season for the theatre that examines the social fabric and geography of Toronto in a series of performances that happen not only inside the theatre, but also on the 501 streetcar, on the sidewalks of Queen Street West and in other unexpected locations.

This show is composed of a series of vignettes based on personal interviews with Toronto residents (both famous and obscure), interspersed with  short song performances and a few interactive games with the audience. It's cleverly set in a space furnished with bits and pieces of Toronto infrastructure: a pedestrian crosswalk, a tree planter, a post-and-ring bike parking stand and overhead cables that resemble streetcar wires, among others.

The production is full of equally clever, specific and appealing sound effects, both taped and produced by the actors: the ding of streetcars, the bells of the City Council chambers, birdsong, the distinctive tones of the TTC public address system, and so on. In fact, a great deal of the audience's pleasure in the show derives from recognizing these familiar details transposed to the stage.

The songs (except the last one) are perhaps the weakest element of the show, as they deviate a little from the  forward-moving energy of the rest of the production. However, some of the vignettes are remarkable, such as Greg Gale's intense and beautifully realized portrayal of a Mississauga construction worker who rediscovers the wonders of the city in a week of outings with his young daughter via subway ("first time in 30 years!"), or Ingrid Hansen's subtle delineation of a Scarborough social worker's ambivalent devotion to the place she serves. A few, though effective in themselves, don't add much to the gradually accruing narrative.

What does the play tell us about our city, where it's come from and where it may be headed? It suggests that our greatest danger, and also our greatest hope, may be that cities are inherently "self-organizing and surprising", in the words (apparently) of the great urban theorist Jane Jacobs, who spent the second half of her life in Toronto (and can it already be six years since she died?)

These words, mentioned early in the play, reoccur at the end, and their repetition pulls the structure of the play into focus. It's not just a series of cabaret turns, but – because it is shaped by random encounters with interview subjects, as well as by unscripted audience contributions during the performance – the play itself is also "surprising" (even to the actors) and "self-organizing".

All in all, This Must Be the Place: The CN Tower Show is a fine addition to Theatre Passe Muraille's noble four-decade history of collaborative creation based on observation of life. It runs in the Mainspace until October 27.

Photo credit: Aviva Armour Ostroff. (L-R) Greg Gale, Georgina Beaty, Ingrid Hansen and Thomas Olajide in This Must Be the Place: The CN Tower Show at Theatre Passe Muraille.