Stratford 2023: ‘A Wrinkle In Time, a loving, heartwarming production for the whole family

A Wrinkle in Time

By Madeline L’Engle, adapted and directed by Thomas Morgan Jones. Until Oct. 29 at the Avon Theatre, 99 Downie St., Stratford. stratfordfestival.ca and 1-800-567-1600

Madeleine L’Engle’s revered children’s novel takes to the stage in a loving, well-performed world premiere adaptation at the Stratford Festival.

Unlike Ava DuVernay’s 2018 film version, which boasted a $100-million-plus budget and all the visual bells and whistles Disney can provide, Thomas Morgan Jones’s production relies on good old-fashioned physical storytelling and embraces live theatre’s capacity to create a direct connection with audiences.

For grown-ups such as myself who adored L’Engle’s 1962 book as a child, the show’s likely to be a happy blast from the past. Things move quickly in the 95-minute show (which includes an intermission) and there were times when I wished we could have dwelled longer on certain elements of the plot: in particular, the central concept of time-wrinkling.

I’m not the production’s intended audience, though, and the pacing is well-judged to keep younger audience members focused. At the performance I attended, the child spectators around me were attentive throughout and seemed thrilled by what they were seeing, even some scary bits (the show is generally aimed at ages seven and up).

The story sports a wonderful, flawed, eventually heroic female protagonist in 13-year-old Meg Murry (Celeste Catena), who’s struggling with her beloved father’s inexplicable disappearance a few years before and acting out at school. Jones’s adaptation wisely opens with a short flashback scene between Father (Jamie Mac) and Meg, establishing their bond as the core of the show.

The whole Murry family, Mother (Beck Lloyd) and kid brother Charles Wallace (Noah Beemer), as well as Meg and Father, are touched by mathematical and scientific genius. At the time of his disappearance, Father was working on government research into tesseracts, folds in space and time that allow for travel between galaxies (back in the day before “Star Wars,” this was mind-blowing).

The Murrys’ eccentric neighbour Mrs. Whatsit (Nestor Lozano Jr.) comes calling to tell Mother that tesseracts are real and, with her friends Mrs. Who (Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah) and Mrs. Which (Kim Horsman), urges Meg to save Father. This sends Meg, Charles Wallace and their schoolmate Calvin (Robert Markus) on a wild intergalactic adventure.

The central element of Teresa Przbylski’s set are two large rectangular plinths that serve as screens for projections (designed by jaymez) of clouds, stars and other scenic backgrounds, and which revolve around to indicate new locations.

The actors cue sequences of tessering (time and space travel) through a wavy hand movement that cues lighting and sound effects and changing images on the screens, as the actors spin around and register the experience through their bodies and faces.

A big theme is resisting conformity and honouring one’s true self. All three of the central child characters are outsiders who come into their own in the quest to save Father. The society where he’s imprisoned, Camazotz, is ruled by a tyrannical central power that strictly controls citizens’ behaviour, represented by a grey colour scheme and lockstep choreography.

The theme of embracing diversity also comes through in the casting of Lozano, who uses he/they pronouns, as Mrs. Whatsit. Wearing a sweeping multicoloured updo, glittering makeup, and elaborate yellow and green gown (costumes by Robin Fisher), Lozano looks fabulous and gives a beautifully confident performance. Roberts-Abdullah holds space charmingly as the aphorism-spouting Mrs. Who, and Horsman emanates wiseness as Mrs. Which.

There are some lovely large-scale puppets representing the creature called Aunt Beast, and the scary stuff comes in the form of a red-eyed creature who guards the area where Father is captive.

While the design is generally strong, there are some surprising lapses: Kimberly Purtell’s lighting is very shadowy so that it’s sometimes difficult to see actors’ faces, and several wigs look evidently fake.

Committed and convincingly early-teenaged performances from adult actors Catena, Beemer and Markus carry the show, along with strong work from the multi-tasking ensemble. The overall message — that love is stronger than evil — comes through clearly and ends the production on a heartwarming note.