Whale Riding Weather
Whale Riding Weather is about a relationship between two mutually dependent and vulnerable men living in Toronto. Lyle is a middle-aged recluse who has taken in and rehabilitated the shattered Auto, a much younger man. By the time of the play, however, Lyle is very much in decline and Auto the seemingly dominant partner in the relationship. Whale Riding Weather depicts that relationship coming to an uneasy but perhaps mutually liberating end. The play revolves around a critical point in their deteriorating relationship, brought on by the appearance of a third man, Jude. The restriction of the action to their dingy downtown apartment gives the play a strong sense of claustrophobia, as MacDonald explores the intricacies of relationships and the motivations behind them.
A former painter, Lyle is middle-aged—perhaps older, for his age is ambiguously described as forty-five, fifty, maybe sixty-five—and lives in his underwear, sherry at his side. He has a pen of cats, which wail piteously. He exhibits some form of dementia or mental illness: he is paranoid about people who are after him; he has promised to roast duck for supper for years; he forgets meeting people. In short, he needs someone to take care of him, and that someone is his twenty-nine-year-old partner Auto. Always rolling cigarettes and drinking, Auto ignores Lyle’s ranting and often goes outside the apartment for walks. There is little apparent intimacy between Lyle and Auto; their relationship is waning because it stemmed from need.
The action of the play is propelled by the introduction of a new man—Jude—whom Auto meets in a bar and brings home because Auto and Lyle have an open relationship. However open this relationship might be, Lyle tries to hold onto Auto while Jude positions himself to take him away. In just a short time, Jude and Auto form a new relationship that pushes Lyle to the periphery even though he has an affinity—which Bryden plays to great comic effect, but not without pathos—for interrupting at inconvenient moments.
Whale Riding Weather demonstrates MacDonald’s interest in portraying expatriates of Atlantic Canada in urban settings, as well as his interest in the challenges faced by gay men. A former Newfoundlander, Lyle has an ex-wife and son back in Halifax, and though Lyle imagines that his son David will come and see him, he is estranged from that world. The courts have granted custody to Veronica based on Lyle’s sexual reputation, suggesting that bias against gay fathers exists both in the family setting and in the justice system. Even Auto has experienced violence because of his sexuality, and Jude reminiscences about his grandmother’s house, the last place he could go—and even then, he did not feel safe there. Auto has also run away from home, though where that home is seems a bit ambiguous. As a result, the three are displaced and attempting to renegotiate their lives after being forced from their homes because they did not fit into a conservative ideal. Clearly the Atlantic provinces are not an idyllic location for all people; in fact, the small-town communities stifle some individuals who must flee to more urban areas because they do not fit norms, in this case heterosexual norms.
The play also explores mental illness through the characters of Lyle and Auto. Auto spends a majority of the play rolling cigarettes and drinking. At one point, he experiences a panic attack which must be quieted with pills. More ill than Auto, Lyle spends most of the play discussing things that are not real, and only at the end of the play does Auto explain that the duck has never been roasted. Lyle is said to have a sleeping disorder that is either symptomatic of his inner problems or causes them. The illnesses of these two characters seem to suggest that being ostracized leads to problems of a more serious nature, for both Auto and Lyle struggle with who they are and what they want from life. Their mental frailties are the reason why they cannot part, even though their relationship seems to have stalled.
Stylistically, Whale Riding Weather is written in MacDonald’s signature fragmented and lyrical style. On the page, his work looks like free form verse—even the stage directions are written in this manner. The play was inspired by MacDonald’s observations of an “elegant old queen” in a basement bar; he began imagining his history if he grew up on a small fishing village on the East Coast. As a result of this inspiration, Whale Riding Weather is a play that focuses on Lyle even though he is asleep or somewhat psychotic during much of the play. However, his important monologue at the play's beginning, as well as his level-headed response to a future without Auto, suggest that Lyle, at least at times, has a reasonable grip on reality.
The play premiered at Factory Theatre in Toronto in 1991, and was later produced at the same location, as well as at Neptune Theatre in Halifax and Touchstone Theatre in Vancouver. Talonbooks first published the script in 1994, and it was nominated for the Governor-General’s Award.
