Heaven Above Heaven Below

Layne Coleman and Linda Griffiths in Heaven Above Heaven Below. Photo by Michael Cooper.

After a year's wait, Linda Griffiths' highly anticipated new play Heaven Above Heaven Below is on stage at Theatre Passe Muraille. A follow up to her Governor General Award-nominated play The Darling Family, the show was originally scheduled in the company's 2013 winter season but was postponed due to Griffiths' battle with cancer. Now, Toronto audiences have a chance to see the award-winning playwright in this charming two-hander which is both playful and profound.

Heaven Above Heaven Below tells the story of a former couple, He (Layne Coleman) and She (Griffiths), who run into each other at a wedding 20 years after an unplanned pregnancy. Alone in a boutique hotel room, the pair talk about everything—fashion, politics, who they were in the past, who they are now—while steadily consuming a cocktail of drugs and alcohol and trying to avoid the darker issues that lurk beneath the surface. Griffiths' script is emotional without being sentimental, and refreshingly honest—a fine harmony.

Director Karen Hines gets solid performances out of the leads, keeping the audience engaged throughout. Featuring a modern, artsy set by Kimberly Purtell and lighting by Rebecca Picherack, this evenly paced, intimately staged production can only get better with time.

Heaven Above Heaven Below runs until December 7, 2013. Visit passemuraille.on.ca for more information and to buy tickets.