Steave Sidibe, Fadi Dalloul, Aylin (Oyan) Salahshoor & Parsa Hassanzadeh in Far-Flung Peoples | Photo by Taylor Long
Conceptually, Far-Flung Peoples, presented by Minor Punctuations Theatre, has admirably comprehensive intentionality and circumstantial awareness. Though the room in which this scenario unfolds is falling apart, Playwright Aylin (Oyan) Salahshoor has constructed a very sturdy little mediation on displaced people trying to survive in Toronto. I found her playwright’s note in the program beautifully articulate and deeply moving, so it pains me to tell you that I find the play itself stilted by its own ambition.
An intelligent and compassionate exposé of the immigrant experience, Salahshoor has set each of her players up, distinct yet simpatico, as archetypal representations. These five people have sought refuge in Canada, having fled dangerous or unjust circumstances. There is Anjeer (Parsa Hassanzadeh) from Iran, Elma (Salahshoor) from Türkìye, Tariq (Fadi Dalloul) from Syria, Forêt (Steave Sidibe) from Mali and Zoya (Banafsheh Taherian) from Afghanistan. Even for established citizens, the cost of living is exorbitant, so, for these struggling newcomers, survival is especially precarious.
Even with just the original pair, this cheap, run-down apartment is woefully inadequate. As three more inhabitants arrive, the tension and camaraderie intensifies. The story negotiates an uncomfortable space between funny and harrowing, with the absurdist aspects rooted in grim, specific reality. The characters are endearing, if schematic, and each actor lands on compelling moments, though the play itself lacks emotive, situational nuance and I never felt fully immersed. My biggest issue is with the dialogue, which has dynamic rhythms and sounds sporadically natural, but is too consistently expository and declarative.
These people take turns vocalizing their plight. Despite the authentic details, a series of dehumanizing hoops they must jump through to prove their own humanity and try to retain it, they exist on-stage more as an embodied message than as complex humans. The visual metaphors aren’t subtle either, but they do land.
Salahshoor’s set is a raked, forced perspective corner of a living room—vacant except for a meagre sofa—and stairwell. Patches of exposed brick indicate the general disrepair, with topsy-turvy embellishments to emphasize the instability of the situation. The way that the stairwell and window are condensed onto the same plane is rather awkward, with the actors kneeling down to look out the downstage window, but its brazen stylization sort of helps to convey the overall strain of the situation.
The primary feature of Logan Raju Cracknell’s lighting design is an eerily sprawling representation of light coming in through the front window. My favourite moments in director Siavash Tayeb Taher’s competent, haphazardly lyrical staging has the ensemble arranged in evocative tableaux within this fragmented frame of light.
Articulate and precarious really are the most apt descriptors of this play and production. Its statement is clear. As theatre, though, it never properly finds sure footing as either an arch satire or authentic slice of life, but teeters nobly between those modes under the weight of its edifying baggage. The final image, a satisfying pay-off to an earlier moment, is simple and haunting.
Far-Flung Peoples
November 1 to 8, 2026
The Theatre Centre, BMO Incubator
(1115 Queen St.W)
100 minutes
Steave Sidibe, Fadi Dalloul, Parsa Hassanzadeh, Aylin (Oyan) Salahshoor & Banafsheh Taherian in Far-Flung Peoples | Photo by Taylor Long