Epigone at Russian Hall: a grief play that inverts Antigone

Epigone is running at Russian Hall in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside through November 15, 2026, as part of the Heart of the City Festival. Kevin Kerr wrote it, and Electric Company Theatre staged it with Vancouver Moving Theatre.

The play follows James, who returns to the trailer home of his estranged sister Laine after she dies of a drug overdose. Kerr calls it an inversion of Sophocles' Antigone: here the brother, not the sister, is weighed down by stigma, family shame and secrets. Kerr wrote it after losing his own sister, Tricia, in 2021 to an opioid overdose linked to the toxic drug supply, though he has said it is not entirely autobiographical.

The production stages the action inside a single crowded space, three walls and a ceiling filled with objects, with crows on the soundtrack and a Zoom memorial for relatives in one scene. Kevin MacDonald plays James, Lili Beaudoin plays his niece Angela, who helps him send Laine off, Tom McBeath plays Stoney, Laine's neighbour, and Colleen Wheeler plays Laine.

The festival runs the play in the neighbourhood where many of the overdose deaths Kerr writes about have occurred. A post-show talk with Kerr, facilitated by Jenny Simpson, is set for November 5, 2026.