Assisted dying debate hits home for playwright Arthur Milner
Local playwright Arthur Milner's new work tackles the thorny issue of assisted dying, one that has sparked debate and prompted the Supreme Court to weigh in. But for inspiration, he didn't have to look further than his own mother.
For Getting to Room Temperature, the Val-des-Monts, Que., playwright recalled the moment he learned his own 93-year-old mother wished to end her life.
"She said 'Can you help me, I'd like to die, can you help me, I want to die, can you help?', and the doctor said 'No, and don't ask me again', and I thought, 'I can write a play about this.'" said Milner.
Getting to Room Temperature is a personal story about love, letting go and aging, said Milner. He says it asks audiences to think and talk about something they may wish to avoid, namely, death.
It's a story told with humour and affection, but squarely focused on an important issue.
"It's a play for everyone who's going to die or knows someone who will," said Milner, who added that, it's a topic he avoided until his mother made it a family conversation.
The one-person play, starring local actor Robert Bockstael, has its world premiere Thursday at the Undercurrents Theatre Festival at Arts Court.
Milner said the ongoing national debate also inspired the work. In 2015 the Supreme Court of Canada declared people with grievous and irremediable medical conditions have the right to to ask a doctor to help them die.
The court ruling forced the federal government to introduce assisted dying legislation, which the government has until June to do.
With a subject sure to raise questions, a number of physicians with expertise in the fields of aging and ethics will participate in talkbacks after the performance at Arts Court.
Getting to Room Temperature opens Thursday at 7 p.m. at Arts Court Theatre. The play runs for four performances until Feb. 20.
