For a lot of people, curling is a mystery. It doesn’t look very athletically demanding, and yet - as many Canadians have discovered while flipping through TV channels - it is surprisingly dramatic to watch.
Onstage until March 23 at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre, The New Canadian Curling Club is a comedy about four people brought together to learn the sport. It’s also about the experiences of immigrants in a small town and the particular challenges these four face.
Playwright Mark Crawford says even though the play is a comedy at heart, he wanted to get at “a bigger conversation about who we are and how we welcome people or don't welcome people.”
The play, originally commissioned by the Blyth Festival in Ontario, premiered in 2018. The subject was inspired by the large movement of Syrians coming to Canada as refugees. “I was particularly interested in Syrian families who ended up not in a big urban centre but in a smaller community.”
Indeed, one of the characters is a teenager from Syria who’s been in the country for a few months. But the rest of the curling team aren’t necessarily “new” Canadians. One came to Canada 27 years ago from Jamaica. Another, from India, has been raising his family in Canada for the last 10 years. There’s a medical resident who came from China three and a half years ago.
It’s an unlikely grouping- four people at different ages and stages of their lives. In fact, apart from being born elsewhere, the only thing that unites them is that none of them know how to curl. That and being called “you people” by their coach, who does not conceal his racism.
“I wanted to explore the dynamic between new Canadians and folks whose families have been here for a long time,” says Crawford. As the play shows, this dynamic isn’t always easy.
The production is directed by Santiago Guzmán (currently also the Museum’s artist-in-residence). Guzmán, who came to Canada from Mexico 10 years ago, says, “I felt like it was an opportunity for me as an immigrant to direct this show from that perspective, but also encourage and allow the performers who also have experiences of migration to bring an authentic voice based on their lived experience.”
Crawford did try curling as research for the play and made an important discovery. “I was really bad at it,” he admits. Guzmán, on the other hand, says, “Surprisingly, I was pretty good. I think I was very strong with my throwing, but it was a lot of fun.”
Tickets are available through the Neptune Theatre box office.
For more stories about how comedy and immigration collide, check out season five of the Museum’s podcast, Countless Journeys.
