An interview with Mark Lawes, Director of On the Side of the Road

How did you come up with the idea for On the side of the Road?

On the Side of the Road was created from multiple points of inspiration, films, novels, paintings, field research, and the “auto-fictions” of the Resident Company of Artists (RCA) . The first point of inspiration was a painting by Marcel Dzama, a Winnipeg artist, depicting a young woman carrying a dead deer on her shoulders. The 2nd was the small town of Lac La Biche situated three hours northeast of Edmonton on a beautiful Northern lake. I helped to build an addition on Uncle Sid’s cabin on the lake when I was a teenager. Lac La Biche (‘biche’ is French for deer) is a complex crossroads of cultures and nature that has tremendous historical significance for Alberta and Canada.

How is the theme of the accident explored in this work?

An accident is the moment of fragility, the moment where everything changes. It is a shock that shatters your vision of the world. The collision between culture and nature, the car accident that kills the deer, sends Alice into a coma. We are asking questions of identity by provoking the confrontation between what is conscious and rational and what is unconscious and unexplainable. An accident happens by chance. Chance is everything that cannot be explained by reason.

What was your creation process for On the Side of the Road?

We are taking an archeological approach to creation by exploring the intersection of people from different roots and memories who compose a specific place and time. In our process, theatre, dance, music and visual art intersect to find a live writing. This results in a pop-art hybrid that is both accessible and new. The Resident Company of Artists (RCA) is comprised of a unique combination of people, skills, disciplines and backgrounds. The RCA are authors as well as interpreters and performers. I propose characters within a story and each of the artists writes on his/her character, and then on the characters of the others. The combination of presentation, training, creative practice, research and development in multiple layers, as well as political and philosophical discussions about why we are engaged in creating theatre together, result in the particular qualities of our work.