There is a horrifying acromym - “MMIW”.  It stands for “murdered and missing indigenous women”

The Hours that Remain, first produced in Vancouver, back in 2012 is the story of many indigenous women, who over the past 50 years have disappeared, and have been murdered, along Highway 16 in British Columbia, which links Prince George and Prince Rupert.

Like Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, there is a tinge of the supernatural to this play, and one can say that the characters are haunted, by grief and loss, and the need to know what happened to their loved ones.

The play is a three-hander, featuring strong performances from its cast.  It is the story of two sisters, Denise, (Cheri Maracle) and Michelle (Cherish Violet Blood), and after the older one disappears, the other searches for her following a path that leads into darkness. To say much more than this, would give the play away.  The third character is Daniel, Denise’s partner, played by Ryan Cunningham, he too in the end is haunted by the ghosts of his past.

The play begins innocuously enough, with two sisters, and the boyfriend of one of them, having a lively discussion about the importance of a girl's night out, versus watching the hockey game with the Boston Bruins. There are some early laughs, over the situational comedy, which become quite precious in setting the tone, before the play abruptly dumps the audience into the abyss.

Like the 1988 Dutch film Spoorloos, better known in North America as The Vanishing, our female protagonist Denise, will do anything, no matter the cost,  in order to solve the mystery of what happened to her missing sister.

Along the way she begins to discover evidence, that is completely ignored by the authorities and the officials responsible for such things, that seem to point to some sort of serial predator and murderer, specifically targeting the indigenous community.

Without spoiling the ending, there are consequences for each of these characters, and the emotional climax of the play, is quite devastating.  In the final fifteen minutes of the production, people sitting around me were openly weeping, such was its emotional impact.

The representative set by designer Michelle Chau, gives us a roadside area, that is balanced against suburban living room area, and the play takes place mainly between those two spaces.  Jareth Li’s lighting and the fine sound design by Sergey Kublanovskiy, add a great deal to the production.

Theatre Aquarius produced, one of the earliest productions of Thompson Highway’s landmark play The Res Sisters in 1994, I mention that, because it was a memorable evening at Theatre Aquarius, but also that it shows you how long it has been since indigenous work was central to the company's activities.

There's an old word called an elegy, often a poem in the classics, which means to remember something with devastating clarity. And I think Keith Parker's play does that very thing. It forces an audience to remember these precious individuals, which society has forgotten. Barker’s play demands that we never forget these women.

I always say the best theatre, is something that is personal, and that provokes an emotional response. Keith Barker’s play, The Hours that Remain, does both, and one felt wiser, for having seen it.

The Hours that Remain
By Keith Barker
Directed by Mary Francis Moore
Associate Director: Donna-Michelle St. Bernard,
A Theatre Aquarius production,
At the Dofasco Centre For the Arts,
April 26 - May 7, 2022
Tickets: 905-522-7529 or theatreaquarius.org

IMAGE: The Hours That Remain – Daniel
Daniel (Ryan Cunningham) in the moving, emotionally charged Theatre Aquarius production of The Hours That Remain, written by Keith Barker, Directed by Mary Francis Moore and Associate Director Donna-Michelle St. Bernard.
Photo Credit: Felix Vlasak Frame Work

IMAGE: The Hours That Remain 3 shot – Denise, Michelle, Daniel
Michelle (Cherish Blood), Denise (Cheri Maracle) and Daniel (Ryan Cunningham) in the moving, emotionally charged Theatre Aquarius production of The Hours That Remain, written by Keith Barker, Directed by Mary Francis Moore and Associate Director Donna-Michelle St. Bernard.
Photo Credit: Felix Vlasak Frame Work

IMAGE: The Hours That Remain 2 shot - Denise and Michelle
Michelle (Cherish Blood) leads her sister Denise (Cheri Maracle) through the emotional discovery of unavoidable truth in the Theatre Aquarius production of The Hours that Remain, written by Keith Barker, Directed by Mary Francis Moore and Associate Director Donna-Michelle St.Bernard.
Photo Credit: Felix Vlasak Frame Work

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