Crow’s Theatre opened The Master Plan tonight, the world premiere of Michael Healey’s adaptation of Josh O’Kane’s book Sideways: the city Google couldn’t buy. Directed by Chris Abraham featuring a powerful ensemble cast this is the most fun I’ve had in a theatre in a long time.

The video design is very memorable, with Amelia Scott credited as video designer, although it may also be partly Joshua Quinlan for the set that displays the video. In sum I was reminded of the use of video in Robert Lepage’s 887 and in the Shaw Festival’s Shadow of a Doubt directed by Peter Hinton, lending a curious sort of authenticity to the proceedings as though we were simultaneously watching something live and something being televised. There were often so many places to look not just because we were in the round but also with the video display capturing additional nuances, lending a gravitas to everything.

It’s a different show I believe if you sit in the first two rows, rather than the last two. I sat in that furthest back row, still relatively close to the proceedings, given it’s only the fourth row: but bemused by the video display and watching the entire audience responding, screaming with laughter, reacting to everything before us. In the first row I think it becomes much funnier, much lighter, because if has a different balance. I may have to go back to try that, sitting up front.

The show is telling a story that’s universal even if it’s about recent events. If you want to read some different versions of events try googling “quayside waterfront sidewalk toronto” to get a few versions. Or read O’Kane’s book, which is available from Crow’s. I’ve been reading a library version but think I might buy a copy now that I’ve seen this compelling play.

It comes at a time when I’m reading every tweet from Jennifer Keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat Former Chief Planner of Toronto) dissecting Doug Ford’s scandalous deal-making, enjoying the lessons I’m getting in social science from my friend Bill Denning, while watching democracy unravel on either side of the border. Take your pick, do you prefer CNN or MSNBC to observe the GOP pissing on Lincoln’s tomb, or the blatant disregard of the rules at Queen’s Park. I recall how in 2016 began what seemed like a golden age for comedy, as Saturday Night Live became arbiter of the truth, while the stuff you’d get on the news was impossible to fathom. Perhaps that’s how to approach Healey’s adaptation, with the knowledge that horror can be funny. And this is horrifying stuff, so desperately awful in its unfolding, such a perfect portrait of Toronto as to make you laugh with recognition.

There’s a poignant speech about NIMBY-ism that might work as Toronto’s eulogy if we were dead. But we’re stumbling on, still here but messed up.

It’s a lovely illustration of the life cycle for projects. We see the poetic energy at the beginning, when everything is beautiful. And we see things shift towards audits and security questions, creativity forgotten in the shadow of people covering their butts, losing their shirts, and just plain tired.

Abraham has the cast performing heroics for two and a half hours of witty sparring across the space. Everyone has a main character plus other roles they take on.

Mike Shara is Dan Doctoroff, the ugly American we meet in O’Kane’s book, but wow he’s been fleshed out, persuasive and believable.

Christopher Allen is the likeable side of Google, in the role of Cam Malagaam: a character we discover is actually an amalgam (ha!) of 30 characters, the one to deliver the haunting NIMBY epilogue.

Ben Carlson is Will Fleissig, reminding me of some of the bureaucrats I’ve known in my time at the university, people who skillfully talk out of two sides of their mouth. I know people just like this.

Philippa Domville is heroic as Meg Davis. She plays her parts with a cane and a cast on her leg, although you assume it’s the way the part was written. She’s one of the most sympathetic people up there, although everyone takes a turn.

Peter Fernandes plays a tree (which makes sense given the sustainability objectives of the urban project in the show), and also takes a turn as the book’s author, as we see for a moment how the story was captured when O’Kane was a reporter for the Globe and Mail.

Yanna McIntosh plays several roles including Helen Burstyn and John Tory. Tara Nicodemo plays several roles including Kristina Verner.

As I was reading the book I was reminded of the film Oppenheimer, another adaptation of non-fiction, as I wondered how it could be done. But this time the creators took passionate positions, unlike Christopher Nolan’s equivocal film. I love the editorializing I see in this show. When Doctoroff calls out our Canadian collegiality, our refusal to be decisive: it has the painful ring of truth. The inability to make this project happen seems to re-enact the same sort of predicament we find ourselves in over and over, whether with transit woes or housing in Toronto, let alone our slow response to the calls for action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. While there’s comedy it’s a powerful portrait of our society, and for the most part it’s accurate, like it or not.

Crow’s Theatre have already extended the run until October 8th due to the demand for tickets. And no wonder, it’s a brilliant show.