On Feb. 5, Theatre UNB staged Mustard at Memorial Hall as part of Fredericton’s annual winter festival – FROSTival.
Kat Sandler, one of the most acknowledged young playwrights in Canada, brought to the public Mustard, a dark comedy that draws audiences on a wild ride filled with laughter and heartfelt moments.
Sandler’s work contains many overlapping lines, which makes it realistic. The actors need a lot of rehearsing to learn when they need to interrupt each other and manage the effective delivery of puns and quips.
“It’s like an orchestra, you know, with many instruments playing at once and you all have to know when to come in,” said Sandler.
This play shows the struggles of Thai, a 16-year-old, who is getting into fights and having a relationship with an older boy that has rather interesting consequences.
Her mom has been dealing with addiction ever since her husband left them for an orthodontist, which makes it more difficult for her to connect with Thai.
As the story develops, the audience falls in love with Mustard, Thai’s confidante and funny imaginary friend, who is no longer allowed to remain visible to Thai.
Len Falkenstein, the director of Mustard, commented on the challenges of the production since they explore themes such as violence, sexuality and mental health struggles.
“Those are all sort of touchy topics and require sensitivity from all people involved in order to portray them in a way that is correct,” he said.
Producing the play involved several conversations with the cast about the different scenes that involved violence and intimacy, while also balancing the comedy.
“There’s a lot of comedy and comedy is hard to do, harder than you think,” he said. “It requires a whole lot of perfect timing and the right kind of delivery of lines.”
The cast of Mustard showcases students from Falkenstein’s senior drama production class.
Part of the reason Falkenstein decided to work on Mustard was to fit the specific group of students taking the class.
“I chose it because I could see the students that I had doing well in the roles in the play and also because I’m a big fan of this particular playwright’s work,” he said.
Falkenstein, who has been directing plays in Fredericton for 25 years, said that even though the class had been rehearsing since November, there is a tacit rule that actors can never have enough rehearsal time.
“Nobody will come out saying, ‘Oh, I wish we hadn’t rehearsed so much,’” he said. “You’ll always want a bit more time.”
The department has worked hard to bring audiences to enjoy the production and performance of aspiring drama students, according to Sandler.
