Never Swim Alone
By Daniel MacIvor
Director & Producer | Company: Light in the Dark Theatre
I directed this production with Light in the Dark Theatre for the 2019 Edmonton International Fringe Festival. During this fringe festival, I was also producing The Big Bright with Cathexis Theatre, and I was the venue coordinator and producer for the Varscona Hotel on Whyte theatre venue, which held 6 different productions during this festival. It was a very busy time for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed directing this unique script by Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor. The following images are some rehearsal shots from this production.
Never Swim Alone is an exploration of what happens when the desire to be first outweighs our compassion for others. I love this play because it deals with humanity’s competitive nature in an abstract way. Many times, in life, we are faced with the choice to be first/win the race, or to help someone else instead. In this story, two men face this choice again and again; yet, because of their fear of feeling empathy, compassion, and ultimately the pain that comes with these emotions, they continue to choose not to feel and to instead, claim first place above everything and everyone else. If only one of them made the choice to have compassion for the other, then the competition could end, and they could finally start to heal.
One challenge that I tackled during this production was getting the actors to relate to the characters they were playing. How can someone relate to a character who completely physically destroys another character in order to be considered the 'victor'? The answer laid in finding the 'why' behind the characters' actions, and to find this why, we dug into the text. Although you may not see yourself as someone who could do this to another person, the characters were actually very relatable as soon as the actors tapped into the characters' pain and ultimately their fear. The question that we came back to again and again was: "What does it mean about you, if you do not win?"
As a producer and the Artistic Director of Light in the Dark Theatre, when I first read Never Swim Alone, it did not seem like an obvious choice to produce for a company that is dedicated to telling stories of hope. Yet, I felt drawn to the script repeatedly. I could not get these characters out of my mind. Why were they choosing to constantly live is such a dark place? As a company which believes that light shines the brightest in the darkest of places, I wanted to tell this story that really sits in the darkness. For these characters, hope, healing and light is waiting right around the corner, if only they could stop competing. It seems like such a simple choice to make, yet because of the darkness in these characters' pasts, it is extremely difficult. As I watch this story unfold, I am reminded to look for the moments in my own life where I could choose compassion, hope, and light over the darkness of unhealthy competition.
To read a review of this production by the Edmonton Journal, please visit: https://edmontonjournal.com/