Review: Kanata Theatre's HOME, I'M DARLING at the Ron Maslin Playhouse

The opening scene of Kanata Theatre’s presentation of Laura Wade’s Home, I’m Darling introduces us to Judy (Katie Torresan), housewife extraordinaire. Judy, decked out in a frock and frilly apron waits patiently in her checker tiled kitchen for her husband Johnny (Phillip Merriman) to come home, so she can make him a cocktail before serving up a homemade dinner. Great Scott! We’ve landed in some sort of 1950s utopian version of British suburbia. Or have we? 

When Judy opens up a kitchen drawer and whips out a laptop, we realize that we aren’t in the fifties at all. We discover that Judy is obsessed with the fifties look and lifestyle, and that she and Johnny have mutually decided to emulate it wherever possible. This means that, while Johnny is out at work being the family’s sole breadwinner, Judy stays at home, cooks, cleans, and makes sure she looks beautiful for Johnny.

The problem with this, of course is that, as far as utopias go, the fifties weren’t really all that. As Judy’s mother, Sylvia (Tara Marcoux-Tynski), and Johnny’s new boss, Alex (Olivia Hegger) separately point out, the fifties weren’t kind to minorities, queer people – or even women for that matter, as Sylvia notes that rape in marriage was perfectly legal and chastises her daughter for being nostalgic for an era that she never even experienced.

In Home, I’m Darling, Wade demonstrates that, while being unconventional is fine, sometimes eccentricities have consequences and that not everything has to be so extreme. When Judy and Johnny stop to confront the results of their adopted lifestyle, they realize that neither one of them is entirely content. Johnny is underperforming at work and, Judy, who was previously a manager in finance, is now so out of touch that she admits she struggles to have meaningful conversations.

I didn’t fully grasp why Judy wanted to live in the fifties. There is the suggestion that it has something to do with the fact that she grew up on a compound, but I had a hard time believing that someone with Judy’s intellect would be able to idealize the fifties so completely. But there are so many good things about the show that it is hard to nitpick on that.

The first half of the play does take a while to get going, but the second half more than makes up for it. Kanata Theatre often seems to struggle with scene changes and in Home, I’m Darling, they played fifties era commercials in between scenes. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that, it didn’t add any value to the story and slowed the momentum of the play; many scene changes were minor at best and wouldn’t have otherwise warranted such frequent transitions.

The cast is very good, with Merriman and Marcoux-Tynski giving particularly strong performances. Special mention goes out to Director, Val Bogan, and Naomi James, who plays Fran, Judy’s friend. In the second act, Fran’s nonverbal reactions to Sylvia and Judy’s argument had the audience roaring. It is fun to see Hegger’s Alex being so self-assured – until she isn’t. Paxton Rodriguez has a difficult role as Fran’s husband, Marcus, and the scene between Rodriguez and Torresan in the latter half is so convincing that it is uncomfortable to watch. Overall, Home, I’m Darling is a solid show in Kanata Theatre’s 2024-2025 season.

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