![\"Vanessa](\"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/rp-vanessa-sabourin-01_302933881.jpg\" "\\"Vanessa")
Request Programme, the newest show from Northern Light Theatre, raises more questions than it answers. Questions of identity, of perception, of intent.
Organizers are calling it a return to the experimental theatre of the ‘90s, a chance to try something different. A new actor takes the stage each night, bringing their own context to a tragic and heart-wrenching show about loneliness and loss.
Before moving on, a trigger warning wrapped up in a spoiler alert: our protagonist takes her own life at the end. For a show that first debuted more than five decades ago, the statute of limitations has expired on spoilers.
The lights come up on a tiny studio apartment. A woman comes home, unloads her stuff and proceeds with her night alone. She changes out her socks, works on a puzzle, makes a bologna sandwich, smokes a cigarette, all inane actions of a single woman at home alone.
After a few minutes, she turns on the radio to listen to a show called request programme. Our protagonist reacts to some of the songs with a smile, maybe a frown or a tear or two at another.
Then, as we near the end of the 90-minute show, the woman heads to the bathroom for what appear to be sleeping pills. She checks the label, thinks for a minute and then consumes the entire bottle, washing it down with champagne as the lights fade to black.
Request Programme is slow and almost plodding, a voyeuristic look at one woman and her nightly routine that ends in tragedy. It’s only in hindsight, looking back on the little details with the understanding of the ending that things really start to click. Every actor has been given a few prompts, activities they have to perform in 90 minutes, but how they do it is up to them.
Vanessa Sabourin was on stage early in the run when I attended, giving an incredibly subtle performance chock full of nuance. She comes on stage holding a bag of groceries, unpacks her supplies and spends a very unremarkable 90 minutes living a life unseen. She nods along to a few songs, tears up at one point and dances by herself near the end of the radio show.
She could be remembering an old flame, a lost partner or maybe just a sad movie she once saw. It’s entirely up to the audience to fill in the blanks, which is the point
The context of the actor’s age and appearance, how they move through their performance and react to the music and space all lead to vastly different perceptions from the audience. Was Sabourin’s character coming home from a hard workday? How long has she been thinking about taking her own life? How would our perceptions change with an older or younger actor?
The radio show, the one referenced in the title, is made up of music from local female performers, from the likes of Cayley Thomas, Ellie Heath and Alex Dawkins. It’s a beautiful counterpoint and accompaniment to a tragic show.
Request Programme asks a lot of the audience: to question what they are watching, to think about their own experiences and what they are bringing to the show, to look back on what they saw and to draw meaning from what they have seen.
What Northern Light Theatre is calling a throwback to old-school experimental theatre is a success, though not for everyone. You have to calm your nerves and sit with the silence, piece together your own story based on what you are watching. It’s thought-provoking and beautiful all at once, a show that will continue to grow in your brain the longer you chew on it.
Request Programme
Starring: Different actor each night; see NLT website for listing
Directed by: Trevor Schmidt
When: Through May 16
Where: Studio Theatre inside the Fringe Theatre Arts Barn,
Tickets: $37, with a discount for going to additional performances, through northernlighttheatre.com.
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