Live Five’s penultimate production of their twenty second season is Highway 55 Productions’ The Boat written by Todd Devonshire and directed by Liz Whitbread.

           

  The Boat runs from February 26th to March 8th 2026 at The Refinery.

 

  The Boat is a period piece set in 1964 in Canada, where two doctors are helping woman receive abortions in international waters as it was illegal at the time.

 

  Abortion was formally banned in Canada in 1869 and would remain illegal until 1969, when the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1968-1969 was instituted that allowed abortions under certain conditions; including the therapeutic abortion committee of three doctors felt the pregnancy endangered the mental, physical well being of the mother.

 

  In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada repealed the act citing R v. Morgentaler that it was unconditional.

 

  In The Boat’s narrative, Doctor’s Jane Gunner (Abbey Thiessen) and Carmen Smith (Elizabeth Nepjuk) have risked their life and career to help three women; the mysterious and closed off stranger, Sarah Browne (Johanna Arnott), inquisitive yet secretive Amy Napier (Sam Fairweather) and the conflicted Aponi Bichette (Leze Pewapasconias) all the while navigating Amy’s husband, Bo (Jonathan Pickrell) that brings a tumultuous, reckless chaos to the seting.

 

  The Boat continues Live Five’s confident, powerfully strong narrative of their twenty second season, with strong thematic themes of feminism, queer identity, liberation, identity and independence that resonated from Two Bees Productions iteration of Kat Sandler’s YAGA, to Fatal Fem Theatre's adaptation of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) and their last production of So. Glad Theatre’s The Wives. The Concumbines. The Ritual. from local actor, poet and activist, Peace Akintade.

 

  This production is breathtaking in its haunting narrative, strong characters, emotional weight and sickening linger that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as they careen into the unknown depths with the passengers on the boat. The play’s message that is more timely and important then its ever been and allows the themes to permeate the audience’s consciousness without ever feeling heavy handed or forced.

 

  Whitbread as director has accomplished a marvelous feat of making every single character nuanced and allowing the actors, especially the female leads of Arnott, Fairweather, Nepjuk, Pewapsconias and Thiessen shine, radiate, show raw vulnerability that was transformative to witness.

Whitbread’s ability to balance the very heavy topics of abortion, women’s rights, the perspective of an indigenous character of Aponi, while also letting humor and strong character moments seep into the foundation,

 

  Devonshire’s prose and script is powerful and his ability to craft such wonderful arcs for each of the female characters that change and evolve naturalistically in a relatively short runtime of ninety mins is an amazing feat.

 

  Arnott as the mysterious Sarah, was utterly compelling bringing a nervous fraught anxious energy while also delivering a gut wrenching monologue and performance amongst the ensemble that was mesmerizing as it was haunting.

 

  Fairweather as Amy, brought such vulnerability sprinkled with this inquisitive, empathic nature while also able to unravel through the production that was unsettling as it was magnetic.

 

  Nepjuk as Dr. Carmen Smith was the soul of the ensemble. Nepjuk walked a tight rope of showing her emotions through her physical performance but also her cadence that brought such weight, lived experience and inner turmoil every time she was on stage that was impossible to not be drawn in,

 

  Pewapsconias’ portrayal of Aponi was the beating heart of the production, her ability to project empathy, warmth, fear and vulnerability was riveting and heartwarming.

 

  Thiessen’s character, Dr. Jane Gunner, channeled was the emotional core of the production, playing stalwart, kind leader that has risked everything to help women and the while compartmentalizing her identity and feelings she has for Jane rationalizing it as a necessary against her own wants and feelings that was tragic as it was realistic during the play’s time period.

 

  Finally, Jonathan Pickrell as Bo, the insecure, erratic, irrational, selfish husband, performance was a magnificent look into what makes people do awful things and how they justify their actions. Pickrell imbued a ferocity of anger, and discomfort that was present through the production like a virus. Pickrell was able to give a nuanced performance where you understood their actions while hating the character but also didn’t feel the character was one note or a trope.

 

  The Costume design from Morgan Carter was simple as they were elegant and felt consistent with the period of the play’s setting.

 

  Byron Hnatuk’s lighting design added to the tense energy the production evoked both creating levity and normalcy before chaos.

 

  Grahame Kent’s work as sound and props designer really helped create the aesthic from the sounds of the sea, to background noises and the very simple staging of the props that allowed the actors to move about the setting in a very naturalistic way.

 

  Jordie Richardson as fight director helped create the tense mood and tumultuous chaos of Pickrell’s performance with the rest of the ensemble.

 

  Rachel Walliser as intimacy director helped foster a raw vulnerability that allowed the audience to learn about the various women and helped set the mood and heavy themes throughout.

 

  Lastly, Gordon Portman added to the production as assistant director and dramaturge and Emily Rempel helping the production run smoothly as stage manager.

 

Live Five and Highway 55 Productions’ The Boat is a magnetic, mesmerizing and illuminating timely narrative that packs an emotional wallop that as unsettling as it is absolutely transfixing and immersive. The cast, crew have done an incredible job and created a masterful piece of theatre.

 

  Live Five and Highway 55 Productions’ The Boat, runs from February 26th to March 8th 2026 at The Refinery in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

 

Tickets can be bought online here through On The Boards, the box office or the venue itself.