Madison Walsh, Tara Sky and Dan Mousseau in There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death or, The Born-Again Crow.Jeremy Mimnagh/Supplied
- Title: There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death or, The Born-Again Crow
- Written by: Caleigh Crow
- Director: Jessica Carmichael
- Actors: Tara Sky, Cheri Maracle, Dan Mousseau, Madison Walsh
- Company: Buddies in Bad Times and Native Earth Performing Arts
- Venue: Buddies in Bad Times
- City: Toronto
- Year: Until March 29, 2025
Last October, a 19-year-old woman burned to death in the bakery department of a Halifax Walmart.
Gursimran Kaur, an employee at the superstore, died trapped in an industrial oven, just a few months after she moved to Canada from India. Her mother worked in the same Walmart and was on shift when Kaur died.
The store got a paint job, and the bakery section was relocated with a new set of ovens. The Walmart quietly reopened this past February, just three months after the incident.
Police found no evidence of foul play in Kaur’s death, but the episode remains a symbol of the expendability of human labour under capitalism, the degree to which supermarket clerks, fast food workers and Uber Eats delivery drivers can be swept away in the pursuit of more profit. Entry-level work can be back-breaking, mind-numbing, even fatal – yet nowhere in Canada does the minimum wage equal or even approximate a comfortable living wage.
That injustice in mind, playwright Caleigh Crow taps into the inexorable rage of corporate subjugation in There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death or, The Born-Again Crow, which won her the Governor-General’s Award for Drama in 2024.
When we meet Beth (Tara Sky), an Indigenous young woman with a penchant for Radiohead and reading, we learn that something happened at Real Canadian Superstore, and for reasons unknown, she doesn’t work there anymore. One thing is clear, though: She doesn’t want to talk about it.
Tara Sky plays Beth in The Born-Again Crow.Jeremy Mimnagh/Supplied
But that’s okay. Her mom Francine (Cheri Maracle) is just happy to have her kiddo back in the house. She even goes so far as to buy Beth a couple of bird feeders and bags of birdseed: Maybe taking care of the cul-de-sac’s pigeons and crows will encourage Beth to open up about her sudden unemployment.
When a talking crow (Madison Walsh) starts to nest in the garden, a metamorphosis takes place that sees the real Beth start emerge from the ashes of the grocery store she may or may not have set ablaze. Newfound confidence in hand, Beth embarks on a mission for revenge – against the insipid TV reporter who insulted her crow sanctuary, against the ex-boyfriend who won’t stop pestering her and against the neighbourhood association president hellbent on killing her birds (these bit parts, and others, are played by Dan Mousseau).
Crow’s script vibrates with compassion, with twin beliefs in magic and redemption that make the work feel substantial and alive. It’s no wonder the play won that coveted GG – Crow’s writing scurries, twists, thrums and sings, a creature in its own right that makes Beth’s backyard feel like a portal to another, gentler life.
Jessica Carmichael’s direction highlights the edgy streak that runs through Crow’s script like a bright pink stripe on a head of black hair. She amps up the play’s humour, particularly in Walsh’s punky take on the crow, who encourages Beth to reject convention in favour of a more authentic, more hedonistic approach to being alive. Mousseau, too, is a lightning rod for laughter, breathing life into each of his characters with gravitas and wit.
Madison Walsh as the talking crow in The Born-Again Crow.Jeremy Mimnagh/Supplied
But The Born Again-Crow ultimately revolves around Beth and Francine, the cracks in their relationship that might only be healed via supernatural intervention. Maracle offers a tender, loving Francine, an imperfect, big-hearted parent who wants nothing more than to celebrate her daughter in all her quirks. Maracle’s performance is specific and complex, a stand-out within Carmichael’s ensemble.
Sky’s Beth is less consistent. Not dissimilar to Odette and Odile in Swan Lake, the role demands its actor to demonstrate tremendous range in a short period of time. Sky is ultimately tasked with playing two Beths – the recently fired cashier, and the increasingly otherworldly defender of the neighbourhood crows – and Sky only occasionally locks in to the fever pitch of Beth’s scorn as the play barrels toward its dénouement. Their earthbound Beth is nuanced and developed; less so the former clerk’s corvidian alter ego.
That said, The Born-Again Crow relishes in high-impact, thoughtful dramaturgy, most notably in its design: Shannon Lea Doyle’s set is spring-loaded with surprising tricks, and Asa Benally’s costumes – particularly for Maracle’s crow – gleam under Hailey Verbonac’s lighting.
Indeed, as living in Canada inevitably becomes more expensive at the hands of a trade war, it’s easy to feel inspired by Beth’s rage – by the inequities sewn into being a member of this country’s working class.
Most customer service workers can anticipate less gruesome fates than Walmart employee Kaur’s, and less lyrical ones than Beth’s. But in the end, this striking play posits, capitalism comes for us all – perhaps even on the wings of a talking crow.
In the interest of consistency across all critics’ reviews, The Globe has eliminated its star-rating system in film and theatre to align with coverage of music, books, visual arts and dance. Instead, works of excellence will be noted with a critic’s pick designation across all coverage. (Television reviews, typically based on an incomplete season, are exempt.)
