As a pair of Victoria-based performers sit on the couch of a rented suite in isolation this week, they canB次元官网网址檛 help but think of all the similarities theyB次元官网网址檙e seeing in the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Danny Saretsky, 22, and Regina Rios, 23, moved here to study the theatre program at the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Oak Bay. In November, they performed lead roles in the stage production of Unity 1918, a play by Kevin Kerr in which the Spanish flu disrupts the small community of Unity, Sask.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of similarities,B次元官网网址� said Saretsky, who played Stan, a new father who is recovering after his wife died in childbirth. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 disturbingly parallel.B次元官网网址�
| Performers Danny Saretsky and Regina Rios during a Zoom chat this week. The two starred in Unity 1918, a movie set in the 1918 flu pandemic, and are now finding it a bit uncanny that they are under self-isolation just a few months later. (Travis Paterson/B次元官网网址 Staff) |
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In particular, itB次元官网网址檚 societyB次元官网网址檚 reaction to the virus that stands out. The nation was still grieving the 56,638 Canadian military members who died in the First World War. To this day the number of people killed by the Spanish influenza ranges in estimate from 20 to 100 million people worldwide, about 55,000 people in Canada and 650,000 in the U.S.
B次元官网网址淸ItB次元官网网址檚 kind of the same as] how people were [recently] exaggerating, B次元官网网址極h, itB次元官网网址檚 not that bad,B次元官网网址� while others stocked up on toilet paper,B次元官网网址� said Rios, who played Sunna, a young Icelandic woman who becomes the town mortician.
Amid the chaos of death, in which there arenB次元官网网址檛 enough coffins for the dead, Sunna and Stan find romance.
In Unity, as it was back then, things were typically slower. But with the flu, things changed quickly day-to-day.
The schools are closed. Physical contact is forbidden and there is a town curfew.
B次元官网网址淏asically, all fun things were canceled then too,B次元官网网址� Saretsky said. B次元官网网址淭he town people were quarreling with one another, not because of illness, but because of fear of illness.B次元官网网址�
The actors even played out the same responses weB次元官网网址檙e seeing now, especially mistrust of people who travelled internationally.
B次元官网网址淓ven though people sought a human connection, travellers were met with a B次元官网网址榩lease get away from me,B次元官网网址� vibe,B次元官网网址� Saretsky said.
B次元官网网址淭hey didnB次元官网网址檛 really understand the flu,B次元官网网址� Rios said. B次元官网网址淭he flu hit Regina [Sask.], so they knew it was coming in, but they didnB次元官网网址檛 know how it spread, they thought being downwind would spread it. It was being spread with the soldiers coming home from the war.B次元官网网址�
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There were mass graves and misinformation.
When CCPA last staged Unity 1918 on Dec. 1 there was no sign of a global pandemic unfolding.
The two graduated in February and went their separate ways. Rios joined local troupe Story Theatre and was touring preschools with the show The Very First Circus.
B次元官网网址淥f course, going school to school was not ideal, so that was canceled [early],B次元官网网址� Rios said.
Saretsky was in the middle of a vacation tour with his father to the United States and Europe.
B次元官网网址淲e were in Boston when we made the decision to follow recommendations and come home,B次元官网网址� Saretsky said.
If it goes ahead as planned, Saretsky is headed to Vancouver this summer to intern at the annual Bard & the Beach Shakespeare Festival in Vancouver.
Now the two are stuck, together at least, in an Airbnb suite, until things change.
B次元官网网址淲e did jazzercise today, a B次元官网网址�90s jazzercise funk workout on YouTube,B次元官网网址� Saretsky said.
B次元官网网址淪upport artists if you can, itB次元官网网址檚 a tough time for all of us,B次元官网网址� Rios said.
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