INFINITE LIFE – REVIEW OF 2024 COAL MINE THEATRE PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

Infinite Life is a fascinating play by Annie Baker that receives a top-notch production by Coal Mine Theatre. Like many good plays, it is constructed on a simple premise. Five women and one man are in what looks like a therapy clinic. It is a former motel and we see the characters sitting or lying in chaises longues describing what ails them and why they are in the clinic.

All of them have serious ailments and the most salient symptom is pain. There is no mention of a doctor and only a nurse is somewhere in the building but we do not see her. The main method used to cure the patients is fasting and they stay in the clinic for a few days or weeks. Their conversations and revelations are fascinating but I am not sure if all or any of them are in fact cured.

We see the five woman lying on chaises lounges on a sunny day in northern California. They are familiar with each other but they know little about what each is suffering from except for the fact that the clinic deals with pain. Sofi (Christine Horne) at 47 is the youngest of the group. She provided us with the timeline of the play as scenes change (20 minutes. 10 hours, 25 hours later) and in the meantime she tries to speak with her husband who never answers her calls. She has a voracious appetite for sex and considers seven hours the appropriate length of time for some acts. She goes even further than that but you have to see the play to find out.

Eileen (Nancy Palk) walks with a cane and is perhaps the oldest of the group. She disapproves of discussions of sex and leaves the group when the conversation becomes raunchy. She is a Christian Scientist and we get a better appreciation of her humanity at the end of the play when she and Sofie make emotional contact in a moving scene. 

Brenda Bazinet, Kyra Harper and Jean Yoon in “Infinite Life” 
at Coal Mine Theatre.  Photo: Elana Emer Coal Mine Theatre

Elaine (Brenda Bazinet), Yvette (Kyra Harper) and Ginnie (Jean Yoon) complete the circle of women in pain at various stages of treatment. Ginnie tells us about a cousin of hers whose job is to describe pornographic movies for the blind. The play has a considerable amount of humour but that story brings the house down.

Nelson (Ari Cohen), the man in the group, walks in around the middle of the play. He struck me as a shirtless duffus who wants to display his physique and then tries to seduce Sofie to have a “quicky) with him (after he informs his wife of what he is about to do). She rejects him as an inconsequential partner.

The set by Joyce Padua consists of the lineup of chairs that could be on a cruise ship or the clinic. The lighting design by Steve Lucas is used to indicate different hours of the day.

The play moves deliberately but there is not a single moment when our interest lags. The humour and the revelations about the lives of the group keeps us glued to the stage. It is an intelligent play that touches on our capacity for pain and compassion and the endurance of pain and the search for relief. The performances of the actors are superb.

Jackie Maxwell directs the production with skill and expertise. A look, a grimace, a pause, a double take and more are handled with care and precision. Brilliant work.
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Infinite Life by Annie Baker continues until October 6, 2024, at the Coal Mine Theatre, 2076 Danforth Ave. Toronto, (northwest corner of Woodbine and Danforth). www.coalminetheatre.com/

JAMES KARAS IS THE SENIOR EDITOR, CULTURE OF THE GR