The production that’s in previews this week and has its official opening Friday is what the theatre’s artistic director, Dennis Garnhum, calls “Room 3.0.”
What’s that? You say the stage adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s novel Room is playing at the Grand Theatre? But hey, didn’t it debut at the Grand a couple years back?
Well, sort of. Not really. Perhaps?
The production that’s in previews this week and has its official opening Friday is what the theatre’s artistic director, Dennis Garnhum, calls “Room 3.0,” because it comes two years and two postponements after the show was supposed to have its North American premiere in the Forest City.
The 120-minute-long drama about a captive mother and her son trapped in a single room was slated to open at the Grand in March 2020. Then, COVID-19 happened. Then, after the theater underwent a $9.5-million renovation, the folks at the Grand took another stab at it in January of this year, but the Omicron variant got in the way.
This, then, is the proper North American debut. If any Grand show was “much-anticipated,” it’s this one.
Garnhum said despite the delay, his enthusiasm for the play has not diminished, and he knows most Londoners who bought tickets two years ago have indicated they still want to see Room.
“I know most of them are coming back,” he said at a media preview Tuesday afternoon, adding he feels a special pride helping stage a production by a local playwright.
Since it’s a story about isolation, Room likely will resonate differently after two years of the global pandemic. In a sense, we’ve all had a taste of what Ma (Alexis Gordon) is feeling after being kidnapped as a teen and spending seven years in a small space in her captor’s backyard.
“That feeling, that symbolism, is very strong,” Garnhum said. The first two rows of Grand seating have been removed to provide an extra feeling of safety for audience members who have COVID on their minds.
As it opens, Ma and her son Jack (Lucien Duncan-Ried/Isaac Chan) start their day, greeting objects around them like the lamp, plant, and chair. Hovering beside them is SuperJack (Brandon Michael Arrington), who is an expression of the boy’s feelings and thoughts. Yes, the child has an inner child.
Slowly, it will dawn on the audience the set is not a typical house or apartment, but a dungeon.
Donoghue, who came to London from Ireland in 1998, said even though songs are part of the stage version, in her mind it’s not a musical (a film adaptation of the 2010 book came out in 2015, which took the best-picture Oscar and earned Brie Larson a best-actress prize).
Since she’s lived with Room for so long and the Grand production has been put off twice now, Donoghue has had time to tinker with the script. But the writer said most of the modifications came not from her, but the performers. “I would say most of the changes came from the rehearsal room,” the novelist said.
“I don’t feel ownership (of the story) anymore,” she said, noting the nature of stage shows – as opposed to novels – is that they’re collaborative.
Asked if she feels like a Londoner now, or still Irish, Donoghue said she feels like all immigrants: “I’ve one foot in each country. I’ve mixed loyalties, but I’ve enough love for both countries.”
IF YOU GO
What: The North American debut of Emma Donoghue’s Room
Where: The Grand Theatre, 471 Richmond St.
When: On now until March 19
tickets: All seats $50, call 519-672-8800 or visit grandtheatre.com