What happens when your childhood imaginary friend hangs around a little too long … and suddenly other people can see them too?
That’s the core of Mustard, the play written by Kat Sandler and the upcoming show produced by 25th Street Theatre. When Thai’s imaginary friend — the titular Mustard — appears and is seemingly visible to Thai’s mother, Mustard quickly falls in love with her. The play quickly becomes a question of family, relationships and the line between real and imaginary as Thai must navigate this bizarre new dynamic.
Anita Smith, the artistic and executive director of 25th Street Theatre, also plays Thai’s mother Sadie in the show. She said one of the reasons she wanted to do this production was because it explored stunningly real characters in a very funny script.
“I make this joke fairly often, that I like to make people think they’re eating dessert but I’ve actually baked vegetables into the dessert,” she said. “Those are the plays I tend to be drawn to, ones that feel on the surface light and fun and fluffy but within the play there’s a message. Kat’s writing is amazing for that.”
Tim Bratton, the director of Mustard, said he loved Sandler’s writing. Despite the seeming absurdity of the premise, he said the show managed to convey powerful and relevant themes and conversations about love and the need to be loved.
“This play does a neat job in the way that it’s written that on the one hand you have very honest, very real dialogue,” Bratton said. “Then you also get these weird, unique circumstances created through an imaginative dynamic … it helps get at those deeper things, those intangible things.”
The show is Bratton’s first time in the director seat, though he is certainly no stranger to the professional theatre scene. He commented that he enjoyed the way directing brings all the elements of the theatre community together into a “coherent whole,” and felt privileged to be put in this position for a show that has only been professionally produced a couple of times before now.
And this show brings a lot of fun elements to bear that he gets to oversee, as well.
“There’s everything from fight to intimacy to glitter,” Bratton said with a laugh. “There’s a lot of balls to keep in the air on this one.”
A couple of the unique quirks of the production can be found in the cast and crew, as the entire artistic and creative team involved in the production (outside of the playwright) were all Saskatchewan-based.
In addition, the artistic leaders of three local theatre companies are all part of this production — between Smith, Bratton (artistic associate with Burnt Thicket Theatre) and actor Kayvon Khoshkam (artistic director of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan), there’s a lot of experience on all sides of the stage.
As far as Smith is concerned, it’s been a decided advantage.
“It’s been a very compassionate process. We all recognize the challenges of leadership positions in the arts and trying to balance those demands with your needs as an artist and your desire to create,” she said. “It’s been kind of awesome to have them there.”
Khoshkam, who plays the imaginary friend Mustard in the show, said after reading the script there was “no doubt” that he wanted to play the “unapologetically crude” Mustard. Through the silliness of the character Khoshkam said the playwright had developed someone with great depth in vulnerability that he was eager to portray.
“In the process of losing and finding and struggling, Kat (Sandler) has created a play that is also extraordinarily laugh-out-loud funny,” he said. “I think that makes it really human.”
Khoshkam said that he has played “fool” characters numerous times in his career, but noted that he didn’t want to approach this like a “carnival act.” The show brings a lot of comedy (and per everyone interviewed for this preview, plenty of crass language) but is, at its core, deeply heartfelt.
For the majority of the audience that will be seeing Mustard for the first time, Khoshkam said he hoped the audience can both have fun and also be moved.
“I hope they remember the creatures and things that helped them from childhood, and fall back in love with them,” he said.25th Street Theatre’s production of Mustard runs from Jan. 29 to Feb. 8 at The BackStage Stage. Tickets can be purchased online at 25thstreettheatre.org.
