Vancouver’s newest theatre company is already proving they’re a force to be reckoned with, debuting with a show as disarming to the cast as it is to the audience. 

The Search Party has brought French playwright Florian Zeller’s work to Vancouver for the first time from The Cultch, playing now until November 30th. Director Mindy Parfitt says she chose The Father for the way it brings the viewers and performers together to experience what it’s like to have dementia. 

“There is enough of a linear storyline for the artists and audience to follow, but it always breaks down,” says Parfitt. “You're sort of seduced into this idea of trying to make sense of it but you never can.”

I accepted this challenge heading into the sold-out theatre on opening night, scanning the diverse audience—my soon-to-be co-experiencers on a retreat from sanity. Set Designer Amir Ofek has created an impressive Parisian apartment on stage, complete with a cocktail bar at the back of the dining room to the left, and a minimalist living room wrapped around a fireplace to the right. In the course of 95 minutes, six actors rotate through the apartment’s entrance, centre back—magicians swapping roles and moving furniture. The scotch is replaced with wine, we see a chicken dinner in various stages of completion, and the consistent but minor changes to the living room make you question how long a bed has been on stage. 

While Kevin McNulty plays the paternal protagonist, the character has as much agency as the audience does while navigating nonsensical terrain. It’s an experience actor Jillian Fargey was protective of during our phone call, three weeks ahead of show time. She was careful while explaining her role, only saying she was one of six actors who are all either dealing with or helping someone deal with end of life dementia.

“One of the beautiful things about the play is there's sort of a level of mystery, a bit of a thriller element,” says Fargey. “The audience may not know what they're sitting down to watch so I don’t want to say too much or give too much away.”

The play’s topic is a familiar one for Fargey, whose own father had dementia for a decade. The first few read throughs of the script were not without tears, but Fargey sees a universal theme within the work.

“It’s about connections, losses of connections and trying to cope in an ever changing landscape— whether that be emotionally, mentally or physically,” says Fargey. “It’s about how we need to take care of each other, try to understand each other, try to see things from every point of view.”

Florian Zeller writes in a way that brings out the humour and beauty that exists within family relationships, as well as within the illness of dementia.

“There is a freedom, in a way, with how people with dementia are able to express themselves in a lot of different ways, says Parfitt. “Things are said out of context. There's a joyfulness, playfulness, a child like element to how ideas are expressed.”

Parfitt hopes the audience will leave with a higher level of compassion for those struggling with any mental illness, as well as feeling inspired by the theatre. 

“I want people to come out with a stronger admiration for what is possible through the art form and through the stories that can be told through theatre,” says Parfitt. 

Three weeks after our phone interview, she is standing on top of a table in the reception area of The Cultch, her flute of champagne towering above our raised glasses as she gives a short toast full of gratitude. 

“We’re a small company with big visions,” she tells the crowd. During our interview, the only details she could share was that the company has plans to mount the world premiere of a Canadian playwright next. 

I am a little star struck, surrounded by the six plain-clothed actors socializing with the crowd. Introducing myself to Fargey, I thank her for making a point to be vague during our phone interview—knowing less is more when it comes to seeing this play. Then, I barrage her with a series of questions, hoping for her help in untangling every metaphor. After giving me her take, I ask whether her cast-mates have differing theories. 

“It doesn’t matter because we’ll never know who’s right,” she says smiling, stopping McNulty on his way out for a cigarette to introduce us. The incredible actor I had just seen figuratively and literally stripped on stage— a man old enough to be my grandfather, crying for his mommy—now seems calm and unassuming with a pint of beer in hand. I ask how he’s doing after giving such a powerful performance. 

“It’s not that hard up here,” he says, tapping his head of frizzy white hair. “Things change so much that you can’t think about one thing for very long. It’s here,” he adds, pointing now to his chest, “that gets tired.”

Anthony Hopkins will play the same role as McNulty in the movie adaptation of The Father, set to hit screens in 2020, but live theatre seems a more powerful vessel to tell stories of memory loss due to the medium’s lack of permanence. 

“You can sort of recapture it in your mind, but theatre is something that you experience in moments and then it's gone. That’s the beautiful thing—it’s not something you can watch again and again and again,” says Fargey.
While you may miss what exactly is happening throughout the play, don’t miss your chance to experience The Search Party’s The Father.

See showtime and ticket info here. The Search Party is donating one dollar from every ticket sold to the Urban Native Youth Association as a recognition that the company works and creates on the land of the Coast Salish People, especially the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.