Anglo theatre: Darragh Mondoux’s «Bud ˂3» at WinterWorks: Covid Orchid

by Yanik Comeau (Comunik Média/ZoneCulture)

   Centaur Theatre Company’s WinterWorks Festival continued Sunday afternoon with a semi-staged reading of Darragh Mondoux’s new play for young audiences, Bud ˂3, directed by the playwright’s life partner Rahul Gandhi. The couple presented the piece as a work-in-progress before giving up the stage to their performers but then what the audience was offered was a sweet, smart, beautiful piece of only semi-read theatre for the whole family, from 8 years and up… whether you had shown up with kids or not.

   The Centaur’s website presents Bud ˂3 as a “creative, clever and heartfelt theatre for young audiences play that brings together grief and horticulture, […] an object puppetry piece exploring the rituals around caring for houseplants and our loved ones through infancy, through life, and in death.”

   Nothing about this is false. Although sometimes, marketing copywriting can be overblown or all bells and whistles, here, we have an honest and true take on what the audience is getting. The piece does not feel like a work-in-progress at all, notwithstanding the director’s misplaced modesty.

  Actresses Riley Wilson and Samantha Bitondi play sisters Rosie and Ada who have just lost their mother and are navigating their grief and isolation during the beginning of the COVID pandemic… while taking care of an orchid, teen Ada’s science project which Rosie doesn’t want any part of in the beginning (probably because she feels inadequate and “un-scientific”) but ends up having to partake in to help her quarantining little sister.

   This quasi-production, like Adventures which was presented earlier in the week, is another great example of the importance of giving new works the chance to shine. Initiatives like Fringe Festivals, Centaur and La Chapelle’s coming together for WildSide and now Winterworks and Infinitheatre’s Write-On-Q annual playwrighting contest are essential events that need to keep being financed and encouraged.

If Rahul Gandhi feels that Bud ˂3 is a work-in-progress, great. The work certainly has already progressed a lot… and now, let’s see a full-blown production (which doesn’t really need bells and whistles, it’s pretty much fine the way it is with its efficient, smart, modest set) get a nice run next season. And maybe not call it “young audiences theatre” but market it by saying "audiences 8 (or 10) and up”?

Bud ˂3 by Darragh Mondoux Directed by Rahul Gandhi Produced by Darragh Mondoux and Rahul Gandhi Starring Samantha Bitonti, Riley Wilson, Lucas DiTecco and puppeteer Chris Wardell Composer: Lucas DiTecco Additional music by Tyler Miller and Riley Wilson Lighting Design and Technical Direction: Michael Tonus Puppet Design: Chris Wardell Presented by Centaur Theatre Company for the WinterWorks Festival March 2nd, 2025 (Time: 45 minutes, no intermission) Centaur Theatre, 453, St. François-Xavier Street, Montreal Reservations: 514-288-3161 Information: https://centaurtheatre.com/shows/bud-3/