This review is presented in partnership with Crofton House School.

On the occasion of Crofton House School’s 126th anniversary, the prestigious private school for girls mounted one of North America’s most-staged plays. Both the play itself (written by John Edward Cariani) and the school’s production of it did not disappoint.

For those unfamiliar with Almost, Maine and its origins, here’s a quick primer. The work’s title stems from the playwright’s experience growing up in a northern Maine town with less than 9,000 people—a place located only a stone’s throw from the Canadian border.

Yet unlike the playwright’s actual hometown, Almost is a fictional place so remote and so small that those who lived there never quite saw the point of incorporating. Hence “almost,” but not quite, a town. Such is what happens when living in wilderness on the periphery of what passes for modern civilization.

Here, cultural life is stripped to its bare essentials—be it skating on a frozen pond on a cold winter’s night with a loved one, or snowmobiling through the thick snow-encrusted woods, or meeting friends at the Moose Paddy Pub for a drink or two. But don’t confuse the simplicity of this cultural canvas, or its folk, for a script bent on superficiality or lack of emotional complexity. The play is deceptively deep.

Almost is actually 10 cleverly unconnected short-burst vignettes simultaneously unfolding on a single moonless mid-winter night. Here, in a place not quite anywhere, the themes of loneliness, the seeking of deep personal connection, and love are juxtaposed with vignettes highlighting disillusionment, heartbreak, and loss.

This rendition of Almost was performed by students of Crofton House School and St. George’s School from March 7 to 9. What made it work so well emotionally was the extent to which the age of the cast actually suited the themes of the material. Who better than adolescents to give meaningful voice to a time in life when one awkwardly steps out into a world of strangers in hopes of finding genuine connection, if not some measure of emotional intimacy, while at the same time risking complete rejection?

As in Rob Reiner’s legendary 1986 film Stand By Me, young actors have a way of helping older audiences travel back to their own youth, and the secret loves and aspirations they held for one another. This allows viewers to revisit such memories from the safe distance of a time now informed by greater life experience. Such is the fodder for this play’s deeper impact and appreciation.

All the actors—Joanna Fu, Megan Ho, Kate Mauthe, Mehar Bhamra, Sarah Querée, Miles Kanwar, and Max Quintoro from Crofton House; Ashvin Bhangav, Garrett Fuller, and Ben Isac from St. George’s School—were outstanding not only in their evident commitment to their respective roles, but their highly entertaining and believable renderings.

This became abundantly clear from the generous number of belly laughs that spontaneously engulfed the theatre, as occurred when an ironing board wielded by Marvalyn (Megan Ho) convincingly knocked Steve (Ben Isac) off his perch several times in the fourth vignette aptly named “It Hurts”; or when, in the ninth vignette entitled “Seeing the Thing”, Rhonda (Max Quintoro) and Dave (Garrett Fuller) engaged in removing a seemingly never-ending series of clothing layers after they hesitatingly admitted they wanted to be together; or when a missing shoe dropped from the sky in “Where it Went”, a vignette exploring the fading of love, which featured Ben Isac as Phil and Sarah Querée as Marci.

This was equally evident in the spontaneous number of audible “oohs” and sympathy “awes” from people in the audience at key drama points, such as when Ginette (Megan Ho) slid close to Pete (Ashvin Bhangav) in the Prologue, only to be told she was moving further away from him; or when Glory (Kate Mauthe) stole a quick cheek kiss from an unprepared Easton (Ben Isac) in the vignette “Her Heart”, which also came with an unexpected comedic twist toward the end. 

Hats off to Crofton House School for its ability to nurture and guide such emergent talents in this well executed endeavor. This wasn’t just theatre well performed; it was an example of young talent having an opportunity to explore and develop within the confines of a fun-loving script centred on a key developmental threshold in life.

As director Catriana van Rijn put it: “Through countless hours of hard work and dedication, these young performers have built connections with their characters and with one another—both on and off stage.” And it showed.