Ah, the classic western genre—with its broody main characters, rugged landscapes, and posses who observe the strict laws of friendship. The Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC), director Emily Pearlman, and playwright Jill Connell are delivering a fresh take on old stereotypes that explores the ordinary occurrence of one woman’s abortion in their production of The Supine Cobbler.
Playwright Jill Connell sat down with Apt613 to share more about this production, and why the western genre fits so perfectly with the themes conveyed through this play.
Jill Connell. Photo provided by GCTC.
Connell—who has spent time in many parts of the country working on her craft—is currently based in Toronto, running her own independent theatre company, but she still calls Ottawa home.
Connell graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 2011, where she first started to build the play that became The Supine Cobbler.
“It’s a contemporary western that’s set in an abortion clinic,” Connell says. “The abortion is like the structure of the play, how it moves forward in time.”
However, Connell says it’s really relationship dilemmas that provide the context of the play. She describes it as trying to “do your best” in a “destabilizing and disappointing world.”
Connell says the idea to write The Supine Cobbler as a western was a no-brainer.
“I liked how kind of gritty and unapologetic the western genre can be. So it excited me to write within the western, with abortion being the centring action of the story,” she says. “I just felt like it gave me a lot of latitude to not get caught up in some other places where an abortion story might normally get in the weeds.”
The focus on female-centred relationships is really the highlight for Connell, and something she felt needed to be explored through the contrast of the typically hyper-realistic lens of a western.
“The Supine Cobbler is a play about love,” she says. “How do you negotiate this world you don’t fully understand, because it’s moving faster than you? It’s a bit chaotic, and it’s banal and normal, but it’s also exquisite and devastating.”
While love, relationships, and community are all major themes, the political timeliness of this piece can’t be ignored. For Connell, her intentions were to leave this play in the present tense, and have the audience view it without justification.
“It doesn’t really get into decision-making about abortion,” she says. “I wanted to put that onstage, and to have an audience witness it in a group. And then I wanted to do that without commentary. To appear something so common, but [that] exists largely unseen.”
Connell hopes there is a feeling of being seen and centred for individuals who may relate or connect to the play’s various themes.
“I hope the audience is surprised and perhaps moved,” she says. “I hope they laugh, I hope they’re engaged, and it’d be really cool if they talked about it afterwards—that they carry a little piece of it a long after the show closes.”
Catch The Supine Cobbler at the Great Canadian Theatre Company from Sept. 28–Oct. 8. Tickets are available online at gctc.ca or from the box office. There will be a pre-show discussion in the GCTC lobby on Sept. 27 at 6pm, facilitated by Artistic Director Sarah Kitz.
The GCTC offers a wide range of accessible performances, including reduced capacity, Pay-What-You-Decide, ASL, and relaxed performances. The GCTC building features step-free street access with an accessible push button door. There is elevator access to the second floor, and accessible washrooms on the first and second floors. All washrooms are inclusive. There are wheelchair accessible seats in the front row and one in the back row. They offer complimentary tickets for companion attendants or personal support workers. Assistive listening devices are available to borrow from the box office.
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