RED LIKE FRUIT – REVIEW OF 2025 PRODUCTION OF NEW PLAY BY HANNAH MOSCOVITCH

Reviewed by James Karas

Red Like Fruit is a riveting new play by Hannah Moscovitch that is brilliantly structured and delivers a large number of punches, quietly, almost subliminally. The program cover shows a woman screaming but the play itself does its screaming very differently and the photo shows the opposite of the suppressed screams of the protagonist. 

The play has two characters, Lauren (Michelle Monteith) and Luke (David Patrick Flemming). Lauren is seated on a chair and utters only a few words during the 75-minute show. Her emotional state is indicated by some body motions but all is shown subtly. Aside from that, the entire plot is told by Luke. She is a professional journalist who is writing an article about Andrew and Brittany, He slapped her and was convicted and sentenced to do community service. He did. He worked for the Liberal Party and Justin re-hired him after the end of his sentence.

Lauren digs deeply into the incident and the slap had far more serious consequences than initially related by Andrew including broken teeth and other wounds.

Brittany’s story, like that of the whole play, is told by Luke in its entirety. He stands at a lectern and speaks in an even tone, is extremely well-spoken and occasionally asks Lauren if she is all right and if he can continue. She consents every time.

Michelle Monteith. Photo: Dahlia Katz

Lauren joins a group at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and she clearly has “issues”. We move from Andrew and Brittany’s story to Lauren’s experiences and listen with mounting horror at what has happened to her. Luke delivers all in an even voice regardless of how freakish the incidents are. On a visit to Prague, Lauren trips and almost falls on a cobble stone street. The tour guide reaches to help her and grabs her vagina. At 17, she visits Dean, a 30+ cousin in the U.S. and sleeps in a separate bedroom in his apartment. She is woken up with Dean lying on top of her. The incident is too horrific to describe; in the morning they have breakfast with her aunt as if nothing happened. 

Luke continues relating incidents from Laurens’s life including references to sex with young men but also consensual coitus with a sous-chef that she does not like. The cumulative effect of her experiences sends her CAMH seeking help.

The Andrew-Brittany story shows that Lauren is intelligent, meticulous and perceptive. She digs into the details and as usual she discovers that things are not what they appear to be. There is a twist to the “slap” story but I will not disclose it lest it spoils the cumulative tension built by the play.

The set, lighting and costume design are by Kaitlin Hickey and they are as simple as they are effective. A raised chair for Lauren and a lectern for Luke and the lights focus on Lauren. She says very little but her agony is illustrated with the few movements that she makes. Flemming is simply masterly in his performance, an actor who can relate appalling, almost unspeakable series of incidents with a calmness that emphasizes instead of diminishing  the horrific tales. Astounding performances by Flemming and Monteith.

The play is directed by Christian Barry the artistic director of 2b theatre company, Halifax Nova Scotia. He sets the tone and pace of the performances and his work can only be described as masterly.

In case I did not convey the effect of the production, I can only add that the theatre provides a CONTENT WARNING that the play “deals with complex sexual matter including sexual assault.” That barely scratches the surface of the effect of the play. The performance can have such an effect that the theatre advises that “a reflection room is available following the performance, if needed.”

Hannah Moscovitch has once more demonstrated her subtle and brilliant writing talent.

Go see it.
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Red Like Fruit by Hannah Moscovitch,  a Soulpepper and Luminato Festival presentation of the 2b Theatre Company production continues until June 15, 2025, at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Tank House Lane, Toronto, Ontario. www.soulpepper.ca.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press