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TV ad for The Wrong Son

Peter Hinton introduces the 06-07 Season
Peter Hinton on The Wrong Son
Allen Cole, playwright on The Wrong Son

The Wrong Son Study Guide
Sheet Music for "It's Freezing Out Here"
Playwright's notes for The Wrong Son
The History of The Wrong Son
Want to know more about film noir?

Halifax, 1948: a young musician, Ryle Rawlins, finds himself wanted for the murder of his wife. Though wrongly accused, his violent past leads the police to condemn him. In a moment of panic he takes to the road, a desperate hitchhiker, in search of a safe place to hide. Picked up by a mysterious driver who (adopted at birth) is now traveling to be re-united with his birth father, an unexpected accident proves to be Ryle’s security and his undoing. Stealing the identity of the driver, he takes refuge with a lonely old man, who believes the accused killer to be his long-awaited son. Inspired by the classic "noir" novels of the 1940s and 50s (Cornell Woolrich, Jim Thompson and James M. Cain) The Wrong Son combines a gripping "whodunnit"narrative with a lush jazz score and dangerous psychological underpinnings.

" Noir’ was born out of the guilty conscience of post war, late 40s North America. The atrocities of the holocaust and Hiroshima had not yet been glossed over by the happy faces of the 50s. This was particularly true for the young men of that period, so many of whom had difficulties returning to the reality at home. My grandparents, who grew up on the Bay of Fundy, occasionally spoke of this dark period. So many young Nova Scotia men died in that war. So many others, like Ryle in The Wrong Son, came home damaged. And those who didn’t go to war (like my grandfather, who had polio as a child and was deemed unfit), often felt enormous guilt. The complexities of this period of history, along with the foggy streets of Halifax and the lonely coastline of the Bay of Fundy, is what led me to marry the noir’ genre to my home province." Allen Cole

Starring an eclectic ensemble of Canada’s finest musical theatre performers, who have wowed audiences across the country in shows like Mamma Mia and Urinetown, and also featuring some of our finest folk and world music interpreters, The Wrong Son will be played with instrumentalists from Toronto’s internationally acclaimed Arraymusic Ensemble. Inspired by the paintings of Christopher Pratt, and conceived by Dany Lyne, a designer whose work has garnered outstanding acclaim at both the Stratford Festival and the Canadian Opera Company, our opening show promises to be the perfect synthesis of sound and image.

"In the old days villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don't want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings. There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." Alfred Hitchcock

[the Arraymusic Ensemble is].. one of North America's more astonishing founts of new music..." – The Village Voice

David Keeley, Ryle in The Wrong Son
Photo: Laird Mackintosh
Illustration: Lino