The Way Back To Thursday

L-R: Rob Kempson and Astrid Van Wieren. Photo by Michael Cooper.

For a small child, the world is both scary and exciting. Everything is new, and mom and dad are running around, doing their best to teach as well as protect. A child's grandparents, however, once removed from the teaching roles, are simply content to spoil their grandchildren and love them unconditionally. This love is the focus of Rob Kempson's The Way Back to Thursday, a beautiful musical production that celebrates the connection between a grandmother and her grandson, now playing at Theatre Passe Muraille. 

Kempson plays Cameron, an easy-going guy whose parents split up when he was very young. As a result, he spends a great deal of his childhood and adolescence with his grandmother (Astrid Van Wieren), the highlights of which are Thursday evenings spent watching classic movies. Kempson, a gifted performer, transports the audience right back to his youth, as he perfects the mannerisms and excitement of a little boy hanging out with his favourite person. The audience also understands just how special Cameron is to his grandmother, as she speaks candidly of her daughter's divorce and how it mirrored her own marriage breakdown years earlier. Because of this, she cherishes Cameron, who comes from a broken home, more than anyone in the world, and even feeds him white lies about how she was a Hollywood movie star during the classic film era because it makes him smile.

In high school, Cameron is assigned a project focusing on someone who inspires him, and he immediately thinks of one of his favourite Hollywood actors, Rock Hudson, whom his grandmother has always compared him to. He soon finds out that Rock Hudson was gay, and in turn realizes that he is gay too. This discovery allows the audience to get to know Cameron's character, and truly understand how his life was shaped during his childhood with his grandmother. Cameron eventually moves to Vancouver to find out who he is, but the phone calls from his aging grandmother never stop, even though he is far from home. The production takes a melancholy turn towards the end, but the overall theme of unconditional love, and the impact a grandparent, or relative, can have on our lives, is never lost.

Van Wieran is a force to be reckoned with—her beautiful singing voice and warm disposition connect her with the audience right away.

The Way Back to Thursday combines a beautiful story with memorable musical numbers, and is definitely not to be missed. See it until February 8 at Theatre Passe Muraille. Visit passemuraille.on.ca for more information and to buy tickets. 

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Q&A: The Way Back To Thursday

Astrid Van Wieren on song cycles, storytelling and working on Rob Kempson's new musical