Toronto the Good

by Andrew Moodie

Cutting deep into the lawyers' private lives, their families and foibles are richly portrayed as an integral part of Toronto's shifting mosaic. From an ostensibly routine traffic stop, each character must come to terms with the city's racial politics and how they have shaped their own beliefs and prejudices.

96 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2010

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play explores what happens when a 'routine' traffic stop develops into a much larger issue of racial profiling and power dynamics in Toronto. I really liked the conflict and tension in this play and I think it is very well-written to explore the point of view of very different characters on the issue of racial profiling in the police force but more importantly BEYOND the force. I was considering this play for a unit with my Grade 10 students; however, I think that because in some ways it is a courtroom drama, the discussion might veer away from the issue and focus instead on the arguments made, so I'm going to pass on teaching it but definitely enjoyed reading it!

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over a decade old and still as relevant in today’s world as ever. Moodie is a way underappreciated treasure.

[dom · Rating 5 out of 5]

there are no heroes or villains in the real world

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to see this performed. It offers a nuanced view of racial profiling. It is important to hear these stories from a Canadian context. It also had an engaging plot.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play refuses to let me go. AfriCanadian playwright Andrew Moodie assembles a kaleidoscope of characters connected, sometimes tangentially, to a legal case with echoes of racial profiling. A female police officer in Toronto stops a van driving erratically late at night. In searching the van, she discovers an illegal firearm, and the driver is charged. The driver charges that the search was the result of racial profiling, leading to suits and counter-suits further complicated by the driver's later run-in with a powerful criminal figure. The prosecuting attorney is an upwardly mobile AfriCanadian who has had to deal with profiling himself and is negotiating a mixed marriage to a schoolteacher concerned about one of her lower-income students and... Moodie takes the play on some interesting tangents without ever losing sight of his central thesis that the famous city slogan "Toronto the Good" is and always has been a lie.