Crimes of the heart

Prince Edward Community Theatre back at Mount Tabor

After a nearly three-year absence, Prince Edward Community Theatre (PECT) has returned to the Mount Tabor stage with the tragicomedy Crimes of the Heart, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Beth Henley. Written in 1978, the play explores the relationship between three sisters when they are reunited in their childhood home after their grandfather suffers a stroke and is hospitalized. There’s the stayat- home eldest sister, Lenny, who is dealing with the prospect of always being single; the aspiring singer Meg, whose career is in limbo, leading her to find solace in alcohol; and the youngest, Babe, who has just shot her abusive husband and also harbours a life-altering secret. The play is being directed by Bill McMahon, who recommended it to PECT about three years ago, prior to the onset of the pandemic. “I was really interested in this play because it was written by Beth Henley, and it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981—which was something because female playwrights weren’t picking up Pulitzer prizes. It has a real feminist bent to it, and I like the fact it was set in the South, where they still have the racial problem, and they still have the patriarchy, and the whole play takes place in the kitchen, which is the heart of the home,” he said. He added that the message in the play still resonates today, over 40 years after it was written, because some of the themes, such as racial inequality and a male-dominated society, have changed very little through time. “Women’s status in ‘Red’ states hasn’t really changed. They had not been seen as ‘equals’ and I think this play really brings the possibility that Southern women could see something different,” he said.

Jaye Snyder plays the role of Babe Botrelle, and this is the largest role they have taken on. Jaye read the script at home and while they might have felt more comfortable taking on a smaller supporting role, something about the character Babe really appealed to them. “I was immediately drawn to the sweet little innocent housewife that shot someone,” they said. “There are more lines than I have ever in my life dealt with. It was fun, though, with Bill during the first couple of rehearsals. We spent a lot of time talking about the characters, their backgrounds and what motivates them.

That helped me get a really clear picture of how I wanted to portray this character.” McMahon had a little difficulty casting all the parts, and rehearsals didn’t begin until about two months ago, providing quite the challenge to the players in learning their lines. “It was quite intimidating,” said Jaye. “Learning lines was shaky, and it took us a while to get offbook, but once we had it, it was so fun to be able to take everything we had decided at the beginning.”

One of the challenges for Jaye was taking on the role of a younger sister, consid ering in their own family they were the older sister. Jay said that it helped that the relationship with their mother had become more sister-like, and they also had friends with sisters to help inform the role. With the play being set in Mississippi, the actors had to assume a southern accent. Jaye first turned to YouTube to get some advice on how to pull off the accent, and then they watched news interviews to refine the mannerisms. Jaye also spent a four-day stint in Toronto where they spoke with a southern US accent almost the entire time. Despite having a lot of stage experience, starting in primary school, Jaye said that taking on a lead role as an adult brought with it a fair amount of anxiety. “As an adult, I’m like ‘I have to get these lines right, I have to make sure that this is good.’ I’m much more selfaware of what I am doing and what I am performing. Babe was intimidating to take on, but it’s so rewarding. I just love playing ‘pretend’ and getting into a different mind-set.”

Crimes of the Heart is playing at Mount Tabor Playhouse this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., as well as on Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door or from Ticketscene at ticketscene. ca/events/42447/.