Moss Park

Graeme McComb and Haley McGee in Moss Park. Photo by Michael Cooper.

Twenty years after the opening of Tough!, George F. Walker's characters Bobby and Tina return in Moss Park, a moving follow-up play now on stage at Theatre Passe Muraille.

Directed by Patrick McDonald, the production stars Graeme McComb as the hopelessly unskilled, but good intentioned Bobby, and Haley McGee as his terrified, pregnant again baby mama. Desperate to keep the child and make a life together, the dirt poor young couple argue over the logistics of earning a living and paying the rent in a competitive world that neither is equipped to handle. Faced with an uncertain future, Bobby and Tina contemplate the advantages and certain drawbacks of a criminal life, and ultimately must choose whether to follow the path of their parents and grandparents, or to stand on their own and build an honorable life. Trapped by circumstance, the question is whether love is enough to survive on.

Set against the backdrop of one of Toronto's instantly recognizable working-class east end neighbourhoods, Moss Park could plausibly take place in any area where subsidized housing and grinding poverty are obvious. The characters themselves are also familiar, even to those of us who haven't seen the first play. McComb shines in his honest and endearing portrayal of Bobby, a lost young man with a low attention span who can't hold down a job but seriously wants to be a good father, while McGee is equally compelling as the level-headed, compassionate-to-a-fault Tina.

At approximately 70 minutes with no intermission, this evenly paced two-hander is both laugh-out-loud funny and terribly tragic. The audience can't help but root for these kids as they struggle to make ends meet in a real-time scenario on stage. Featuring a gritty urban set by Martin Conboy, Moss Park offers a slice of modern city life that will speak to many people.

Moss Park runs until November 16 at Theatre Passe Muraille. Visit passemuraille.on.ca for more information and to buy tickets.