As the lights dimmed and the actors took the stage on Oct. 30, over 40 attendees were seated in St. Thomas University’s Black Box Theatre to watch the opening show of A Number.
Directed by the founder of Black Box Productions, Ilkay Silk, the play written by Caryl Churchill looks at the dynamic of a father-son relationship that only gets more complicated as more twists and turns are revealed.
Even though the play only involves two actors, the audience witnesses a plotline of multiple characters within the play as they touch on the topic of human cloning and explore the conflicting claims of nature and nurture.
Nick Reis, a fourth-year criminology and human rights student, played Bernard One, the son and his two clones.
He said that his favourite part about this challenging role was the effort he put into it.
“Having to learn and become three different characters, it was all craft,” said Reis. “That’s the thing about playing three characters, each scene needs that attention and that’s what I enjoyed the most, just how much detail was a part of everything.”
This performance is the last Black Box production that Reis is going to be a part of after being involved in five different projects over his time at STU. He said that going out in a lead role was “quite the thrill.”
“I haven’t been a lead in a show since high school, so it’s been quite nice to have that opportunity to present my talents in a way that I haven’t been able to do in a while,” said Reis.
Scott Shannon, co-founder of Nasty Shadows Theatre Company, made his debut at the Black Box Theatre with his role as Salter, Bernard’s father.
“When I looked at that first page, the way the dialogue is written in this broken, unfinished manner, where we hardly ever get to finish a thought creates this intrigue of what [the characters] were talking about,” said Shannon.
Following the opening night performance, Shannon said it was a “sad journey” due to the final showcase approaching, but the audience reaction was wonderful to see.
“The fact that [the audience] stays at the end and claps for us blows me away every time,” said Shannon.
Acasha Knowles, a second-year fine arts student at STU, attended the play on opening night. She felt that as part of the audience, everything was open to interpretation and she had the freedom to determine what was occurring on her own.
“It was so cool to watch because you as the watcher had to imply everything … it could mean anything,” she said.
Knowles said she “felt moved” by the performance and her immediate reaction after watching it was total admiration for what she saw.
