ROBERT is a white-furred mouse, early thirties.

DOUGLAS is a white-furred mouse, Robert’s older brother, early thirties.

The Actors’ Relationship to the Audience

A good way to think of the predicament of doing the play is to imagine that the production team is from another galaxy and has come to Earth to check things out. Upon arriving the team finds these artificially constructed ‘races’ – not only does the ‘white’ race treat everybody else like shit but they seem for the most part to keep themselves totally deluded about the severity of the situation. Coming to the conclusion that the white people must be mentally retarded, the production team from another galaxy decides to help out by putting on this small play.
    Thinking that the white folks are not smart or strong enough to handle an overt deconstruction of their identity, they decide it would be better to use the metaphor of mice. Practically, this plays out in many of the moments when the actors will establish contact with the audience, explaining finer points and often lecturing to the point of being patronizing – but just to that point and not beyond. White people, by virtue of a buffer born of their complicity with this state of affairs, are amazingly stupid around this issue and must be approached with caution.
    In addition, the production team from another planet is also aware that there will be a couple of white people and many people of colour who are already up to speed with their understanding of the situation, so the occasional moment can be played for them in an obvious display of complicity.

Set

The suggestion of an apartment in downtown Toronto. The set is composed of a tiny 12' x 12' playing area, upon which are painted large cartoon-like floorboards. There is a suggestion of a back wall spanning the width of the square, created with six metal wall studs reaching high up into the grid, interrupted only by a metal arch suggesting a mouse hole. Surrounding the little area, deep behind the set, are papier mâché globes floating in the darkness; some of the globes are cut in half and placed on the ground, on the ceiling and against the walls to invoke a sense of infinity. The cartoon floor and the globes are similarly coloured to suggest that the characters float in a universe of many worlds. Set pieces include two oversized chairs and an oversized table, upon which sits a large wheel of cheese and a very large knife.

Light

The light is confined to the 12' x 12' area, with six strips of light two feet wide running up/down upstage and six running right/left, plus other specials and fills. The strips are used quickly, following the actors as they run around the small area to create a maze-like effect.

Music

The music is ubiquitous – chilled, rhythmic and soulful, and decidedly influenced by a black aesthetic, preferably composed by a black person. The ubiquity of the music and the style choice is a reference to the thorough influence of black artists in the musical world. The two mice, like most white people, always listen to music invented, inspired or created by black people.

Costumes

The costumes, while cartoon-like, are again meant to evoke the notion of white people appropriating an urban black culture – an overt hipsterism located solidly within a funky vibe yet somehow always missing the mark.

Performance Style

The two actors perform in a high-speed vaudevillian manner. Some scenes feature an overt affectation of mouseness – curled hands to indicate paws, lifted top lip to reveal mouse teeth – but other times they are human, all too human. This can turn on a dime. A definite logic is difficult, but when they are frightened or posturing they are, perhaps, especially mousy. In addition, and related to the vaudevillian style, the actors’ bodies are almost always oriented straight on, facing the front or back or turned directly sideways – always avoiding any diagonal posture. Only the most tender moments between the two break this rule.

Production History

White Mice received its first reading in 1997 under the auspices of the Theatre Centre. Featuring James O’Reilly as Robert, Darren O’Donnell as Douglas, it was directed and dramaturged by Jean Yoon with additional dramaturgy by Libby Zeleke.
    White Mice was first produced by Mammalian Diving Reflex in 1998, featuring Stephen Guy McGrath as Robert and Bruce Hunter as Douglas. It was directed by Darren O’Donnell and produced by Naomi Campbell, with lighting by R.A. Armstrong, music by murr, set design by Naomi Campbell and Darren O’Donnell, costumes by Samuel Jackson and Lori Hickling and stage management by J.P. Robichaud.
    White Mice was presented by the World Stage Festival 2000 in association with Mammalian Diving Reflex and featured the same team, with Darren O’Donnell playing the role of Robert.
    White Mice was also produced in 2000 by Theatre Passe Muraille in association with Mammalian Diving Reflex, featuring the same creative team, with SimJones Inc and Lori Hickling as the costume designers.