Mustard

Mustard shouldn’t still be here, but he is. Imaginary friends don’t normally stay with their Person until that Person is a troubled teenager, exhibiting strangely violent behaviour. Imaginary friends don’t suddenly become visible to their Person’s mom and then go on a date with them, either. But Mustard is special. At least that’s what he thinks. And he’s not ready to leave his best friend, Thai, even though he’s in deep trouble with some unsavoury characters who are ready to enforce some serious rules. And, oh yeah, he’s falling in love with Sadie, Thai’s recently separated, wine-guzzling mom, who doesn’t believe he’s real.

A twisted fairy tale about friendship, love, growing up, moving on and finding magic where you least expect it, this darkly comedic bedtime story by Canadian theatre’s indie darling blurs imagination with reality in order to save a family from its own destruction.

AUTHOR

Kat Sandler

Kat Sandler is a writer, director and Artistic Director of Theatre Brouhaha. She has written fifteen original plays since 2011, and directed fourteen of them. She was a member of the 2014 Tarragon Playwrights Unit, where she developed Mustard, which won the 2016 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play (General Division), and her play Bang Bang was nominated for the same award in 2018. She was the 2015 recipient of NOW Magazine’s Audience Choice Award for Best Director and Best Playwright. Kat is a graduate of the Queen’s University drama program. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, and writes in coffee shops and bars.

Reviews

(5 out of 5 stars) “Emotionally complex, witty and well-paced magic—literally and figuratively.” —Examiner

“The delight of Sandler’s work comes from both her fanciful scenarios and her playfulness with language, and both of these are present in abundance.” —Ilana Lucas, Mooney on Theatre

“Wholly embracing and unique . . . a witty and touching “our town” turn like none you’ve ever had the pleasure to witness before.” —BrokenLegReviews

“[Mustard] strikes a brilliant balance of whimsy and trauma-informed comedy . . . doesn’t provide any tidy resolutions or easy answers about love, family, and the lies we tell ourselves about loneliness, feeling needed, and the reality of growing up. Mustard is wonderful and weird, and it signals a powerful and welcome new voice in contemporary theatre.” —Andrea Warner, The Georgia Straight

“Kat Sandler writes such incongruous, funny dialogue.” —Lynn Slotkin, The Slotkin Letter