Can anyone trust the human heart? And will the fear of genetic mental illness prevail and ruin all that one has worked to achieve? We don’t have proof that it will, and we don’t have proof that it won’t. The play Proof deals with—among many other things—the uncertainty and fear of that reality. But Proof’s director, Victoria’s Dick Stille, says the play—which has won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award—is about much more than mathematical proof and human emotion.
“The first thing that attracted me to it, of course, was the script,” says Stille. “Very good writing, very subtle. But I think what really attracted me most to the play was the very poetic use of metaphor. [Writer David Auburn] is talking about mathematics, but at the same time when you look at the title of the play, Proof, the central conflict in the play is whether or not proof is enough, how we deal with the world, whether we need to infuse faith and trust in our relationships, and what the limits are when we demand proof in a relationship.”
Stille has made a conscious effort to not see the many film and stage adaptions of the story in order to keep his own creative process fresh.
“I haven’t seen the movie, so I really went directly off of the script,” says Stille. “What I’m focusing on is the conflict in life between trust and the necessity to have evidence. That is something, in terms of a central thematic element, that we have focused on in everything that we’ve done within the production of the play.”
Stille says the collaborative effort of many creative minds at work sets theatrical endeavours apart from other artistic mediums. Finding a balance between his process and the actors is one of the joys of working in theatre, he says.
“I really want to work,” says Stille, “and I want the actors to work on their creative process in interpreting the script. There is something nice about taking something fresh and thinking it through and creating it on your own.”
Proof
Various times, Wednesday, June 7 to Saturday, June 24
Various prices, Langham Court Theatre
langhamtheatre.ca