Marion Bridge

February 2018 

Marion Bridge

Marion Bridge. By Daniel MacIvor. Fire Exit Theatre, Feb. 2018. Engineered Air theatre, Calgary. 

In Theatre History class it was said that having three characters onstage automatically creates conflict, make those three characters sisters and you have massive potential for conflict without even needing to know the story. Marion Bridge unflinchingly dives into the lives of three distinctly different people, held together only by blood. Three sisters, who have all gone their separate ways, are brought together by the upcoming death of their mother. They have to face the demons of their pasts (both together and apart) and learn out how to move forward so they can redefine their broken family. 

What I loved about Marion Bridge was it’s emphasis on memory and story. Each of the three characters have a chance to monologue, sharing with the audience the struggles and dreams that they cannot tell their siblings. They also all have an opportunity to share their version of a memory - their visit to Marion Bridge - and all three of them feel completely different about the event. 

Woven throughout the story is also the comical soap opera “Ryan’s Cove” which offered some lightness to the script and showed, in a different way, the power that story can have over our lives. Even if those stories are not worthy of our attention. It really struck me how three different people can have totally different responses to some stories, and surprisingly similar responses to others. If three characters so unique can be united through story, perhaps there is hope for all of us to find common ground, if we are willing to listen.