Anyone who has attended a parent-teacher conference knows that this event bristles with anticipation, tension and the possibility of conflict. Cloaked in commitment to a child’s welfare, the teacher and the parent may spar, their comments prompting confirmation or consternation. Whether they are pleasant or placid, loaded or light, these exchanges are always charged, never neutral.
This is the fertile ground which Jordi Mand tilled for her debut play Between the Sheets. The play, centered around a seemingly innocuous parent-teacher night, has been a runaway hit since it debuted at Nightwood Theatre in Toronto in 2012, directed by Kelly Thornton. Between the Sheets depicts a meeting between Teresa, a young third grade teacher at a private elementary school, and Marion, a mother balancing her job with her role as parent to son Alex. Marion shows up unannounced at Alex’s school, ostensibly to discuss his progress, just as parent-teacher interview night is about to end. The meeting starts routinely enough, with Marion asking typical questions about Alex’s academic progress . . . but then her real motives emerge. The conversation turns adversarial, leading to a fraught confrontation about love, lies, betrayal – and the life each wants, but does not have.
The taut one-play has been performed across Canada, as well as in Auckland, New Zealand.
And its continuing popularity prompted Expect Theatre’s Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley, the producers of PlayME on CBC Listen, to reach out to Mand to consider including it in their current season of plays. Numerous people familiar with Between The Sheets advised Mullin and Tolley to program it because they felt it would make a great audio drama. As soon as they read it, they contacted Mand, who agreed. The original cast from the world premiere of the show reprise their roles in the recording: Susan Coyne as Marion and Christine Horne as Teresa. Sound design is provided by Chris Tolley.
“At the core of it, Between the Sheets is a conversation (or a debate really) between two people,” explains Mand. “The story is really about these two characters being forced to confront each other, and everything that rolls out of that.” What the play really needs in order to succeed is these two characters, and the actors that bring them to life: “So as long as we had that for the audio version, I knew we would be off to the races.”
Mand marvels at the “many, many times” that the play has been produced so far, and the varied versions she has seen. Some have featured literal sets. Some have had immersive stagings in real classrooms. Still others have been performed on a bare stage with just a few props. But regardless of its stage design, the story has consistently resonated with audiences. “In that sense,” Mand notes, “I think the script really lends itself to being an audio play.” Adapting it required surprisingly few changes, due in large part to the original cast reprising their roles for the PlayME podcast. “They know those roles so intimately, so they were both able to communicate a huge amount just with their voices and emotions.”
Mand is far from a one-hit wonder. Her prolific writing spans diverse subjects and genres. Subsequent to Between the Sheets, she wrote Caught, a play exploring themes of morality and interpersonal justice. Produced by Theatre Passe Muraille in 2016, Caught examined the intersection of power, privilege, and abuse – and its continued relevance is both prescient and saddening. Her next play This Will Be Excellent was her first for young audiences. Carousel Players produced the play, which enjoyed a sold-out tour of Ontario schools in 2018. In the same year, Mand’s historical play Brontë: The World Without debuted at the Stratford Festival. It follows the lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, and examines female ambition in the Victorian era.
Naturally, a lot has changed for Mand since the first COVID-19 shutdown in Toronto in March 2020. Most notably, she became a first-time mother, giving birth to a daughter in May 2020. “The pandemic and the last year have basically affected every aspect of my life,” she observes. “Everything has changed for me – in big and small ways.” As proof, she is currently at work on multiple projects: “I am knee deep in a few new plays. I have been working on the film adaptation of a Canadian thriller novel. I am also in the process of developing an original TV series.” And the way that she works has “absolutely changed” to protect her mental health – and also because her relationship to time as a new mother has completely changed. In summary, “it’s felt like a roller coaster of a year, and I am very much still getting my bearings.”
While discussing the audio version of Between the Sheets, she recalls first writing the play and hoping that it would resonate with people for a long time. “I think most writers want their work to have a lasting impact,” she muses. “And it thrills me beyond belief that the play continues to feel relevant and have this huge life – that theatre companies keep programming it, that actors keep wanting to tackle these two roles, and that audiences continue to see it.”
Until live theatre resumes in a COVID-safe future, the best way for new audiences to experience the enduring relevance of Mand’s work is through PlayME’s audio version of the compelling Between the Sheets. At the same time, returning audiences are likely to mine new insights and appreciation by focusing their full imagination on Mand’s sharp, perceptive dialogue and the exceptional performances of Coyne and Horne. Click here to listen.
© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2021
