Contractions

Atwood meets Orwell meets "Black Mirror" in this dystopic future where employees must inform Management of any relationships of a romantic or sexual nature with any other employee. It’s so easy to watch April Banigan and Kristi Hansen milk the tension and resulting dark humour of this two-person play in clean and simple staging. The acting is subtle and powerful, the script exploring a world where surveillance, reproductive control, and a company’s involvement in, and knowledge of, our personal lives has reached a point one step further than the horrifyingly familiar. The creeping menace of the narrative is enhanced by the all-white costumes and blinky distorted soundscape that pops up every time Emma walks out of a meeting with Management. There is also overarching commentary about conforming within late capitalism, but I’m frankly far more freaked by the idea of my manager telling me when to break up with my partner, and if I can have children. —Sarah Culkin