You Can Count On an Unhappy Ending
Women are constantly going missing and being murdered across Canada. In attending their upcoming show, Pig Girl, Imago Theatre wants the audience to become aware of this occurrence and openly discuss it.
The play is loosely based on the ongoing British Columbia Missing Women Investigation, wherein six women were confirmed murdered along with twenty-seven other women’s bodies found on the killer’s property. It was discovered later that a third of these women were indigenous.
“The playwright, Colleen Murphy, wanted to make the dead speak,” explained Micheline Chevrier, director of Pig Girl. “Part of it is to address the prejudice that we have as a society against the value of those lives.”
A Q&A will follow each performance, featuring a variety of speakers including artists, activists, and government representatives.
“That’s what we do here at Imago, part of our objective is to have a conversation about a particular issue that we feel is urgent,” said Chevrier. “I think violence against women is a pressing issue. Particularly marginalized women, meaning drug addicts, sex workers, homeless women, and, especially in this case, indigenous women.”
Point-blank, spreading awareness of this situation is the most important goal that Imago wants to achieve here. The hope is to inspire we as a society to take action rather than look to someone else to eventually do something.
The story of Pig Girl follows the narrative of ‘Dying Woman’ who has been kidnapped by ‘Killer’. Based on the names of the characters, the audience gets a good idea of how the play will end.
The play’s focus is on Dying Woman’s struggle. She fights for her life while her captor tortures and abuses her, before finally hanging her on a meat hook to die. While that part of the story is unfolding, Dying Woman’s sister is trying her best to get help from the sluggish authorities.
Needless to say, Pig Girl will have some explicit and intensely dark scenes onstage.
While putting the play together, Chevrier didn’t consult with Colleen Murphy.
“Colleen and I have worked together before,” says Chevrier. “She fully trusts me to be able to do this.”
Chevrier made no alterations to the script either, everything is word for word as written by Murphy.
Admission for Pig Girl is ‘pay what you decide’. This is the first time that Imago has employed this payment policy.
“We feel that this play is very important,” said Chevrier. “We want to make it accessible for as many people as possible. Whether they have fifty dollars, five dollars, or nothing at all.”
Pig Girl // Centaur Theatre (453 St. François-Xavier St.) // Until Feb. 6 // PWYC
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