Anna Tkachenko | Contributor
Featured image: York graduate Curtis te Brinke wrote and directed a play called Imp, which explores themes of systemic violence, patriarchy, and sexual crimes. | Courtesy of Jeff Pybus
York graduate Curtis te Brinke found a way to explore themes of sexual violence—a topic that has been at the forefront of the entertainment industry of late—in his latest play, Imp.
“I was angry about big things: the patriarchy, systemic violence and erasure, and queer panic in rural Ontario—I was angry. So, when I wrote the play, I thought it would be impossible to stage, which meant I could be as vicious as I wanted, since nobody would ever see it. But here we are, I guess!” says te Brinke.
Currently running at the Tarragon Theatre Workspace from November 15 to 26, Imp, a play written and directed by te Brinke, is a dark fantasy that deals with past mistakes and deep secrets. It follows six teenage witches who unwittingly unleashed a violent force in their small town six years ago, must return to fix their mistake before the body count starts to climb.
As te Brinke explains, Imp explores systemic violence, patriarchy, and sexual crimes and assaults. It asks several questions that most do not have answers to—or when they do, it’s simply too difficult to describe.
“As a playwright, I’m obsessed with science fiction and magical realism, and using them to underscore whatever central concept I’m exploring with a script. With Imp, I was very hung up on the way we talk about victimhood and sexual crimes, and the way we as a society are quick to dehumanize people on both sides of the issue,” says te Brinke. “Imp asks a lot of questions like: ‘What happens when we dehumanize patriarchal violence?’ and ‘What happens when queers, women, and queer women bash back?’”
Imp’s thought-provoking performance forces the audience to question the reasons for the rise in rampant crime and violence in today’s society, and to elaborate on the subject of current legal punishment that perpetrators and rapists are exposed to—an ultimate challenge against the law and its system.
“Imp begins with the revenge. Then, it asks the question that made me write it in the first place: what the hell happens next?” adds te Brinke.
The gloomy lighting and the progressive pace of the music enhances suspense and perfectly compliments the theme of dark forces, rituals, demons, and witches. Occasionally, flashes of light bring attention to the facial performances of the actors, which encode paranoia, fear, and suspicion, subtly hinting to increase the curiosity among the audience and their overall impression and sensibility.
Te Brinke’s Imp captures the challenges and struggles that the voiceless in society may experience. His anger towards the legal system sheds a light on his craft. His creativity and knowledge of the world will leave his audience in a dreamy haze.
In all, Imp is performed with a passion that won’t disappoint.
