Fringe review: What a young wife should know

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What a young wife should know

Stage 26, Sugar Swing Ballroom

4 out of 5 stars

Get ready for plenty of involuntary shudders as Hannah Moscovitch’s historical drama about Irish immigrants films in Ottawa in the 1920s.

The first happens right at the beginning, when the protagonist, young Sophie, learns from her older sister what happens when an unwanted baby is aborted – at a time and in a place where such things often took place at home and had terrible consequences.

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The other horrors continue at regular intervals when Sophie marries the attractive stable boy Jonny and has children of her own, only to discover that the more children she has, the worse her body is.

Lust, politics, class and religion run through “What a Young Wife Ought to Know” with brittle cheerfulness and the characters find themselves in a hopeless situation that ultimately puts a strain on their marriage.

The casting in this difficult play is exceptional, but special praise goes to Abby McDougall in her role as young Sophie, who somehow transforms from girlish and outspoken to tormented and melancholy over the course of just over an hour.

Also, special thanks to the brilliant passerby who ignored the sign on the door to open it, and during one of the most gruesome scenes, blinked into the room like an owl for a long moment and then declared: “This is a theater.”

Excellent conclusion, Sherlock.

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