An upcoming original local play will show “how dark things can get” in the aftermath of traumatic wartime experiences and mental health struggles.
The Cabinet, by Calvin Lane at Unfathomable Horrors, follows the story of a troubled Finnish soldier who moves to Ontario after the Second World War to work as a private investigator.
“During his time there, he gets tasked with a very heavy case, taking on the disappearance of a very young girl,” Lane told SooToday.
The soldier, Ahti Saadytonta, is a paranoid schizophrenic.
“As he progresses through the case, things that are very out of the ordinary start occurring and then – before he even realizes it – he’s sucked into a supernatural plot to end the world,” Lane said.
Juggling not only the case – but a series of delusions – Ahti struggles with the reality of living with a “shattered mind,” Lane said.
“One of them spends a big part of the show trying to convince him that there's no point in even trying to look for the girl,” he said. “One tries to convince him to fall to drugs and alcohol constantly, because that's what he turned to after the war ended.”
“He's trying to deal with that coming out of the war as he adjusts to his new life, and he basically can't seem to catch a break.”
Inspired in part by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Sam Lake, Lane said The Cabinet also draws on mental health issues he’s witnessed and experienced in his own life, on a journey to the “darkest recesses of the human mind.”
“It's pretty horrific and definitely scary, but it's just kind of there to show people the depths of mental health, how dark things can get, how bleak things can really get,” he said.
“I've had my fair share of incredibly bleak experiences with mental health. Some of my close friends growing up didn't get so lucky, and we've lost them.”
The Cabinet will be performed at Sault Theatre Workshop from Oct. 29 through Nov. 2, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are on sale now.