When trying to describe the tone of The Last Garden in only two words, playwright Tanner Manson thought of an oxymoronic new genre: morbid optimism.
“It’s set in this apocalyptic universe where an asteroid hits not in a world-ending way, but a world-altering way,” says Manson, 27, one of the founders of Walk&Talk Theatre, the independent company behind the production, which runs until Sunday at the Rachel Brown Theatre. (Admission is pay-what-you-want.)
What follows, in Manson’s words, is a fantastical, quirky, queer love story found at the intersection of musical theatre and dance theatre.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Playwright Tanner Manson (centre) and cast members, Jean van Der Merwe and Hera Nalam rehearse a scene from The Last Garden.
After the asteroid lands, the story shifts to a lonely florist (Jean van der Merwe) tending to the world’s final floral supply, a greenhouse situated next to an enormous mound of garbage.
The crash has an immediate impact on the florist’s business: everybody nearby is either dying or trying to get married before it’s too late.
“The florist can’t keep up with the supply and demand. The end of the world is quite nice for the florist,” Manson says.
Among the customers are two mermen who live in a puddle, two betrothed princes who are soon to be kings (both pairs played by Neilla Hawley and Kris Cahatol), and a wedding singer (Hera Nalam) who falls in love with an astronaut (Victoria Emilie Hill). Also walking into the shop is a funeral singer (Duncan Cox) who plants the seeds for a budding relationship with the florist.
The Last Garden originated as a one-person show at the 2018 Victoria Fringe Festival, with Manson playing multiple characters.
“Fresh out of theatre school, I was angsty and still in my teenage era,” he jokes.
“This newer version is much more fun and light-hearted. It’s turned into this big old ensemble show filled with music and dance.”
Walk&Talk knows music and dance well, as evidenced by its successful run of Afterlight, a vampire romance musical starring Cox and Sharon Bajer, presented by Rainbow Stage in September.
The Last Garden appears to continue with the company’s trend toward highly conceptualized musical theatre with an emphasis on queer storylines.
“As a queer artist, I always write from a queer lens, and I also acknowledge that in Winnipeg we don’t have a company consistently producing queer-centred work,” Manson says. “I think with queer artists working together, everybody gets (what we’re going for), especially for this story, where all of the characters fall in love in gay ways.
“Showcasing queer work doesn’t have to be sad work. Telling this story with a cast of queer creatives was just so important to me. It’s been very collaborative, and that’s my dream way of working. I love creating with people who are down to clown and play around.”
Co-directed by Manson and Angelica Schwartz, with choreography by Emily Solstice-Tait, the performance features musical contributions by Nalam, Cox, and Ben Townsley.
