One man’s personal odyssey inspired Ignition Theatre’s next offering — the world-premiere performance piece Divide.
Playwright Joel Crichton created his one-actor “part autobiographical, part philosophical,” musical/spoken-word poetry/rap work after spending much of last fall walking — and then sailing.
First he wandered through the rainforest along Vancouver Island’s West Coast Trail, then he went on a five-week trip along the Camino de Santiago, an 800-km medieval pilgrimage route that winds from France to the western coast of Spain.
The 25-year-old admitted he wasn’t so much interested in the religious aspects of the trail that crosses mountains, a desert, and ends at the believed burial site of St. James.
He was mostly looking for some contemplation space.
“I needed some time to figure out whether I should continue being an artist,” or switch to being an engineer or doctor, said Crichton, who performs in Divide from March 22 to 25 at Nickle Studio upstairs at Red Deer’s Memorial Centre.
While he’s been part of Edmonton’s theatre scene since graduating from Red Deer College and the University of Alberta’s acting programs, Crichton, who starred in the Ignition productions of Tick, Tick . . . BOOM!, Year After Year and The Drawer Boy, admitted, “There are times when I don’t feel particularly useful to the world doing writing and acting.
“Sometimes I get bogged down by the news about climate change and war (and) I think, maybe there’s a way I can make more of a direct impact doing something else.”
By the time he had hoofed it to the coastal Spanish community of Finisterre (which means end of the world), Crichton had engaged in several “deep” conversations with fellow travellers, who were mostly other 20-somethings or people in their late 50s.
What the pilgrims shared was a search for a higher purpose. Crichton recalled, “It was either, ‘I’m confused. What am I going to do with my life?’ or ‘I’ve spent 40 years doing something practical’,” is there something more fulfilling to do?
The playwright came to realize through these discussions that writing could be a higher calling.
Crichton decided if he didn’t pursue engineering or medicine, other students would fill the university spots. “And they would be better (at those jobs) than I might have been. . . . But there was no one else who could write about the things I thought were important or say what I wanted to say.”
He impulsively continued trekking south into Portugal. While in the ocean-side city of Porto, Crichton came across a tall ship carrying fair-trade cargo that needed an extra crewman. He signed on and began a gruelling month-long voyage that took him to the Canary Islands and ultimately to Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa.
A bad storm hit during his first night on board, and Crichton said he never stopped feeling seasick for a moment thereafter, due to the constantly rocking waves. But he still agreed to stay on the ship for a week longer than his original commitment.
“I learned my limits and my weaknesses . . . and I tested the limits of my endurance,” said Crichton, who had plenty of time to reflect on the patterns of his life, what he wanted to change and achieve.
His solo performance piece, Divide, which was commissioned by Ignition Theatre, draws on his travel experience for stories that are acted, rapped or set to poetry or music.
“Seeing the show will, in some ways, be like seeing inside my travelling brain because I had all these ideas and thoughts that crystallized,” said the playwright, who portrays three characters in the piece — himself, his future/hypothetical son and granddaughter.
Divide, directed by Beau Coleman, has been compared to Spalding Gray’s Swimming to Cambodia, which is also a semi-autobiographical work that uses drama and humour to distill an experience.
Crichton said he hopes audience members will connect with his play’s message — that the journey never stops. “You don’t just get a job, get married and have kids, and then your life ends. Things can come up or you can make choices that change everything.”
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com