Emily Anne Corcoran & Oshen Aoun in Walden | Photo by Sandro Pehar
If you have anxiety about the state of the world—social discordance, the untenable trajectory late-stage capitalism, climate catastrophe and whatnot—playwright Amy Berryman’s Walden, presented in a Canadian premiere by Icarus Theatre, will confirm many of your fears about our near future. There is shared misery catharsis to be found here, and a reminder that, no matter what happens, we can find places to give us purpose, and that mundane human shenanigans like sibling rivalry will be still be with us through the end times.
Set in some remote American wilderness circa—well, soon—this three-hander negotiates a fraught space that feels both humdrum and mythic. Berryman elegantly sets up the intriguing premise and reveals key story details with impeccable timing. We open on an idyllic pastoral scene. Designed by director Erik Richards (who also did the well-integrated sound design featuring ambient birdsong and weather), the set is a cozy rustic haven—wood panels, faded carpet, dried flowers hanging amidst vintage sconces and moist, earthy textures beneath it all. Emily Anne Corcoran’s costumes—a quaint assortment of plaid, wool, denim and khaki—are a whole vibe.
Honestly, the aesthetics and atmosphere of this production are deeply compelling—a space that felt authentically grounded in primal, terrestrial instinct. Sruthi Suresan‘s lighting fluctuates between lush and eerie. Henry David Thoreau’s titular classic is obviously lurking throughout, both as text and meta text. Though I’ve never actually read it, the getting back to nature message has seeped its way into popular culture.
Cassie (Charlotte Dennis) is just back from a moon mission. The woods seems an odd place for an astronaut. This incongruity is our first taste of the play’s pivotal contrasting motifs—the pastoral gestalt visible before us with the imagined technological artifacts of humanity’s desperate scrambling for survival as our world collapses. Her sister Stella (Cororan), who shares this bucolic home with fiancé Bryan (Oshen Aoun), is clearly agitated by her arrival and, over the course of the drama, we discover their history as it creeps into their present, much like the encroaching toxic air of our contaminated world.
Their father, a NASA astronaut who raised them as scientists, looms large around them. Both are considered brilliant in the field of preserving humanity through technology and extra-planetary colonization. Not long after designing a much-acclaimed, fully sustainable manufactured terrestrial biome (which she called “Walden,” of course), Stella had broken from NASA and shacked up with an EA (Earth Advocate), who is part of the movement to invest in this planet rather than fuck up another one. As they try to reconnect, their conflicting trajectories further alienate them. Cassie’s backstory with a former colleague, and old flame, adds dimension to the situation without being needlessly melodramatic.
Emily Anne Corcoran & Charlotte Dennis in Walden | Photo by Sandro Pehar
Corcoran and Dennis offer a persuasive and moving depiction of a tense yet entirely loving sisterly dynamic. I was fully rooting for them to find a way through their angst and conflict, caring for each and appreciating the genuine complexity of their situation. Aoun is a thoroughly charismatic presence. As Bryan’s go out and touch some grass ethos puts him at odds with Cassie’s belief that it’s far too late for our species to keep this planet supportive of us, the rapport between Auon and Dennis was a highlight for me. There’s tension of course, but also mutual understanding, and I was fully invested in their portrait of reasonable, empathetic humans finding common ground in a crisis.
There is some clever world building here that feels very attuned to our zeitgeist. One insight that hit for me is the connection Berryman has her characters make between terraforming Mars and our history of colonialism. Activist outrage over invading some other planet has led NASA to re-naming the prospective settlement—from “colony” to “habitat.” This semantic trickery resonants as it echoes our tendency to, for instance, rename streets and universities as if that will somehow improve the situation for First Nations communities.
As much as I appreciate the overall structure, tone and characterizations of Berryman’s play, I did find some aspects of the Cassie and Stella’s conflict a little muddy and sensed the narrative momentum snagging on certain ideas. Them being identical twins and the whole thread of comparing themselves during their training with NASA and the institution’s eventual rejection of her was a bit hard for me to track. I also found the whole—you should go on the mission, no you should, we both should go, no just you, what about neither of us—well, it got a little tedious for me.
Their final exchange is conceptually thrilling and very poignant, performed with aching vulnerability by Dennis and Corcoran and staged brilliantly by Richards to convey the sister’s paradoxical bond and distance. Overall, this is a gorgeous, emotionally captivating production. I especially appreciate the haunting (and quietly thrilling!) ambiguity it leaves us with.
Walden
September 10 to 26, 2026
The Theatre Centre, BMO Incubator
(1115 Queen St. W)
90 minutes (no intermission)
Emily Anne Corcoran & Oshen Aoun in Walden | Photo by Sandro Pehar