A new kind of theatre is coming to Ottawa with Seeds, a play about a four-year battle between agricultural giant Monsanto and a Saskatchewan farmer.
Seeds is a piece of documentary theatre, which means almost every line of the play is taken verbatim from interviews done by the playwright. Annabel Soutar interviewed every person involved in the legal battle between Percy Schmeiser and Monsanto, a conflict that started in 1998.
Cary Lawrence, who plays several roles in Seeds, said this format of playwriting has a great impact on the audience.
“Everything I say, it comes from somebody else. So it’s not made up, it’s not a lie. It’s not fiction . . . the audience gets it right away,” Lawrence said.
Schmeiser, played by Corner Gas star Eric Peterson, was accused of patent infringement by Monsanto Canada in 1998. Schmeiser was eventually found guilty by the Supreme Court. He became a spokesperson for anti-Monsanto and anti-GMO movements around the world.
Although the real Percy has not seen the play, Lawrence said many of the other people portrayed in Seeds have, Monsanto employees and Schmeiser supporters alike.
Most are “absolutely chuffed that they’re on stage,” she said. “I think they came away feeling that it was a very balanced view.”
Lawrence’s main role in the play is Trish Jordan, a public affairs representative from Monsanto. Jordan was in the audience opening night March 28.
Lawrence said Seeds is a “balanced portrayal of both sides of the story,” and the goal of the play is to incite conversation.
“More often than not, the audience already has a preconceived notion. They’ve already in their minds decided who is right, who lied, who didn’t, and usually, Monsanto is the bad person,” she said. “Of course the audience wants to go with the underdog.”
“It’s really important for us not to take sides, and I don’t think we do,” Lawrence said. “We let the audience decide in the end.”
A big part of the play’s impact is its closeness with the audience. Before the play starts, the actors spend some time talking with the audience.
“The fourth wall is removed right at the beginning of the show, and we draw the audience in,” Lawrence said.
One of the largest characters in Seeds is the playwright, who is acting out the interviews done by Soutar and serves as a questioner of both parties. Quebecois actor Christine Beaulieu is playing the part a second time, having already done it in French.
“They asked me if I wanted to do it in English, and I was not sure,” Beaulieu said. However, she said she knows the play so well she decided to overcome that challenge.
“It’s really rare that you get this occasion to play a character that you know,” Beaulieu said of her role as Soutar.
“Everything you’re going to hear in the play is verbatim,” she explained. “It’s the real story. . . Annabel really wanted to be respectful for both sides, and I think she really succeeded.”
Beaulieu said Seeds begins as an examination of Percy’s case, but in the end, there is a bigger question to be asked.
“We can patent a living thing,” Beaulieu said. “The question becomes really more large and deep than if Percy is guilty or not.”
“Maybe we should take more care and really ask ourselves—how do we want to modify or define life?” Beaulieu said. “Maybe our future depends on it.”
Seeds will be playing at the NAC until April 12.
