Movies of War

1 of 1 2 of 1 Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter.The foundations of lasting friendships are rarely built on polite small talk and easy reassurances. They're forged through difficult conversations and honest reflections that can sometimes strain the bond itself. Add children to the mix, and it's easy to see why even the closest friendships can begin to tilt.That tension lies at the heart of Caroline Bélisle's play List of Children Devoured by Wolves, which opened this week at Théâtre la Seizième. Directed by Cory Haas, the production follows two lifelong friends reconnecting after one becomes a mother, only to discover their relationship has changed in ways neither expected.The Straight spoke with Bélisle and Haas about how a story rooted in anxiety, identity, and friendship can also find room for humour. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.GS: The title List of Children Devoured by Wolves is striking. What do the "wolves" represent?Bélisle: It's not about literal wolves. The wolves represent what anxiety can transform you into. The main character, Blanche, has had a baby in the last few months, and she's suffering from postpartum anxiety. She's terrified something will happen to her baby. She becomes obsessed with cautionary stories about parents who made a mistake. So when we talk about being "devoured by wolves," we're really talking about being devoured by negligence, or by the fear of becoming negligent. It's about what happens when you become afraid of yourself.GS: The play centres on two lifelong friends meeting again for the first time since the baby was born. Why start the story there?Bélisle: That moment is really interesting to me. With some friendships, you can go a long time without seeing each other and then when you reconnect, it's like nothing changed. You pick up exactly where you left off.But when someone goes through something as transformative as motherhood, there can be a shock. Suddenly, you realize that the person you knew has changed in ways you didn't expect.The play begins with that first encounter. They want their friendship to feel the same as it always did, but it can't anymore. There's something new growing between them, and for the first time they have to find their way back to each other.GS The play also deals with identity and how motherhood can reshape someone's sense of self.Bélisle: Sometimes mothers feel like they've become "just a mother," and that the woman they were before has disappeared. Friendships, especially old friendships, can help you reconnect with that earlier version of yourself.But the friend also has to accept that things have changed. You can't hold someone frozen in time. The tension in the play comes from that push and pull between who someone used to be and who they're becoming.GS: Cory, as a director, how do you guide actors through that emotional tension between the characters?Cory Haas: The writing already contains so much of that tension. At the beginning of the play, the characters are almost overly polite with each other. They're trying to keep things comfortable.But over the course of the conversation, they start to push past that politeness. They become more honest, more raw. There's a moment where one of them asks a question that feels shocking: "Do you regret having a child?"For the audience, that's the kind of thing where you instinctively think, "Don't ask that." But sometimes those are exactly the questions that need to be asked if a friendship is going to survive.GS: The production design also reflects that tension. The play takes place in a cluttered living room filled with stuffed animals.Haas: Yes. We've created this very angular space, and the stage is full of mess. There are hundreds of stuffed animals scattered around. It reflects the environment Blanche is living in now. Her world is chaotic and overwhelming. But the mess doesn't mean she's failing. It just means life looks different now.From the outside, though, someone might interpret that chaos in a completely different way. And that's part of what the play explores: how we judge each other when we don't fully understand what someone else is going through. GS: The play balances heavy themes with humour. Is that something more characteristic in Francophone cultureHaas: I think we’re much more blunt, and we use humour and sarcasm sometimes as a way to address a situation more frontally than anglophones do. That’s part of the humour in the play, too. It’s that secondary kind of humour that sometimes gets missed in the anglophone world. It can be a bit jarring to hear some of these things said out loud, and yet they’re so warranted by the situation.GS: When audiences leave the theatre, what do you hope stays with them the next day?Bélisle: I never write plays because I want to tell people what to think. I write plays because I want to provoke conversations.In this case, I hope the play might make it easier for new mothers and their friends to talk honestly about how their lives have changed. Writing the play made me more thoughtful about how I speak to friends who are pregnant or who just became mothers.There are puzzles in relationships that we sometimes avoid addressing. If this play helps people talk about those changes-and maybe grow together instead of drifting apart-that would be wonderful.Haas: For me, the most interesting stories are always in the gray zones. Things that aren't black and white.So often we sanitize conversations because we're afraid of hurting people's feelings. But difficult conversations can still be loving ones. I hope the play encourages people to approach those moments with more openness and empathy.Audience members will have the opportunity to attend post-show conversations with the creative team on Friday, March 13. Details here. Join the discussion Facebook comments not loading? Please check your browser settings to ensure that it is not blocking Facebook from running on straight.com