Tom Rooney and Laura Condlln in Fifteen Dogs. Photo by Dahlia Katz.Supplied
- Title: Fifteen Dogs
- Written by: Marie Farsi, based on the novel by André Alexis
- Director: Marie Farsi
- Actors: Dan Chameroy, Laura Condlln, Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, Tom Rooney, Tyrone Savage and Mirabella Sundar Singh
- Company: Crow’s Theatre and Segal Centre for Performing Arts
- Venue: CAA Theatre
- City: Toronto
- Year: Until Feb. 16, 2025
Critic’s Pick
When a dog wags its way into your life, one thing is all but certain: Someday, you’ll have to say goodbye. A favourite spot on the living room floor will wear away, and for years, decades maybe, you’ll notice the empty spot where your best friend once was. You’ll feel the ache.
When Fifteen Dogs premiered in Toronto in 2023, local critics enthusiastically pinned canine puns behind the ears of Marie Farsi’s gripping adaptation of André Alexis’s novel, showering Farsi and her top-shelf cast with furry praise.
Two years later, Fifteen Dogs is still paw-some. (Sorry.) But at Toronto’s CAA Theatre, Farsi’s production feels more poignant, more efficient and more raw. The implicit grief of dog ownership is sharper, and while 2023’s premiere was a true ensemble piece, the Mirvish re-mount positions two stars at its centre: Laura Condlln, who plays a handful of pups as well as wide-eyed human Nira, and Tom Rooney, whose performance as poodle Majnoun is devastating and soft, with thick tendrils of sadness woven into his coat.
Since that auspicious premiere at Crow’s, Farsi has cut about 20 minutes of material, making the play clip by as if chasing a frisbee. When gods Hermes and Apollo (Mirabella Sundar Singh and Tyrone Savage) decide to bestow the gift of human cognition on 15 dogs at a kennel in Toronto, consequences quickly unfurl: A populist pack forms, led by a jowly mastiff named Atticus (Savage). Outsiders are swiftly exiled, and one by one, the dogs begin to die – some murdered, some abandoned, some by their own paw.
By the time Fifteen Dogs settles into itself, it’s actually more like three dogs: Rooney’s inquisitive Majnoun, a mournful mutt named Prince (Stephen Jackman-Torkoff) and a frantic Beagle named Benjy (Dan Chameroy, replacing Peter Fernandes from the original run).
It would be easy for Fifteen Dogs to fall into traps of sentimentalism – we’ve all seen Marley & Me – but what’s so remarkable about Alexis’s novel (and Farsi’s adaptation) is how the work wrangles with philosophy and psychology, and how it slips laughter into the most unexpected corners of the story. Arguments about language – what it is, what it does and who it serves – are surprisingly cogent in the mouths of the humanoid dogs, and Majnoun’s observations on the human condition teem with nuance. “Humans fascinate and frustrate me in equal measure,” quips the poodle. Cue knowing laughs.
Beyond Condlln and Rooney – whose chemistry as canine-and-owner is so palpable you might almost forget that Rooney is, in fact, human – Farsi’s cast is up to the challenge implied by a play about nihilistic hounds. Chameroy brings a new edge to Benjy, a burning need to be accepted by humans and dogs alike; it’s a less funny take on the beagle than Fernandes’s, but the bite of his solitude cuts deep. Jackman-Torkoff, Sundar Singh and Savage ably round out the pack, each plying their pups with depth and heart.
Part of what makes Fifteen Dogs so successful is the production’s pared-down aesthetics, with no intricate fursuits or naturalistic sets to be found. Julie Fox uses a sparse visual vocabulary to tremendous effect, suggesting each dog with small costume pieces: A wool scarf forms a billowing neck. Tall boots suggest gangly limbs. A Kardashian-esque wig evokes silky, well-groomed ears.
Opening night suffered a few sound glitches, with frustrating ebbs and pops emanating from the actors’ microphones, but David Mesiha’s sound design is otherwise effective, with original compositions that subtly conjure the feeling of mourning. Imogen Wilson’s lights, too, add a certain otherworldliness to the streets of Roncesvalles and Leslieville.
Fifteen Dogs ought not to work as well as it does, and indeed, I raised an eyebrow when Mirvish announced they’d programmed it so soon after its 2023 premiere. But in a world where language is increasingly politicized — a society where the humans in charge seem content to cast aside values like community, empathy and family – Fifteen Dogs no longer feels like a mere portrait of Toronto’s four-legged demographic. Instead, the play is a prescient warning, a blueprint for how to survive the fates: Beware the mastiffs and rottweilers who make enemies of intelligence, the play says. Love with abandon. Take walks. Savour treats. Tell stories. And yes, give your family pet a few extra scritches under their chin – you never know what they might be thinking.
