Here For Now Theatre review: Reporduktion offers a surreal and soul-searching journey into parenthood

Tyrone Savage as Neil and Fiona Mongillo as Flora in Here For Now Theatre’s winter production of Reproduktion.

When given the opportunity to undergo a highly experimental procedure with a 100 per cent guarantee of conception after trying every other method, how far will one couple go to start a family and what lessons about parenthood and their relationship will they learn along the way?

Here For Now Theatre’s winter-season, world-premiere production of Reproduktion, written by Amy Rutherford and directed for the black-box theatre stage in Stratford by Marie Farsi, answers those questions and asks even more as Flora (Fiona Mongillo) and Neil (Tyrone Savage) put their health and their relationship on the line to achieve the pregnancy both have dreamt of for so long.

Enticed by a vague and poorly translated flyer, the pair flies to Sweden to meet with Dr. Kult (Ryan Wilkie) and his wife, Nurse Svoboda (Maggie Huculak), and discuss what appears to be a medically dubious fertility treatment Dr. Kult promises will result in a baby. The procedure, as best as I can tell, draws on traces of DNA that exist within Flora from her Swedish, matrilineal ancestors, giving Flora the spark she needs to conceive a child without the need for further copulation – much to Neil’s chagrin.

The only catch: Flora will be put into an unconscious, almost comatose state for as long as a week as she journeys into her mind and back in time into the shoes of her ancestor to discover her own inner strength and bring new life into being. Neil, meanwhile, finds himself on a similar journey that intersects with Flora’s after he is accidentally inoculated with the same drug used to put Flora under.

Ultimately, through visions of the past, present and future that feel both rooted in the real world and the product of a fever dream, both find the strength and desire to forge their lives together, regardless of whether they are ever able to conceive. By the play’s end, it seems that strong bond is exactly what Flora and Neil need to foster a spark of life against all odds.

The magic in this production comes from both the stellar performances of each the actors and the combination of lighting, sound and projection to artfully mix the real and surreal as the audience is left wondering if the events unfolding on stage are part of a dream or if they’re actually happening.

Mongillo and Savage do much of the emotional heavy lifting in this production, their onstage chemistry providing depth to two people who, at first, don’t know where their relationship might go without a baby. Apart, they each find the strength to fight tooth and nail for their relationship before they rejoin each other as a couple with the knowledge their lives will be beautiful as long as they spend them together.

Huculak and Wilkie, on the other hand, offer a mysterious and often humorous counterpoint as they vaguely describe their “groundbreaking” treatment with a level of confidence not shared by Flora and Neil. As Dr. Kult and Nurse Svoboda, Wilkie and Huculak’s somewhat farcical performances ground the play in the real world before acting as guides, as well as Flora’s ancestors, during the production’s most surreal scenes.

Though this play is performed by a cast of just four actors on a sparsely set stage, the story feels rich with emotional depth and meaning.

Reproduktion runs at Here For Now Theatre (24 St. Andrew St., Stratford) until Nov. 30.