Review by Wendy Walters • Halifax • 2025-04-25
The historic three day Snowstorm isn’t the only thing that’s chilly in 76 cm
I used to think it was only my bad luck relationships that brought codependency, insecurity, and addiction issues. I’m starting to think it’s much more common than we'd like to admit.
76CMs is set in a basement apartment during an unforgettable snowstorm in St. John’s Newfoundland. They called it Snowmaggedon and it shut down the city for days. News reports from the time relayed the new connections a city of neighbours formed when everyone relied on each other for everything from a can of milk to help getting out from being buried behind snow-covered doors.
At the centre of the storm, both literal and emotional, are Abe and Samson, a long-term couple making big plans for the future: a bigger home, a baby, marriage. I should’ve known they were untethered from reality when they mentioned finding an affordable apartment in St. John’s with an in-law suite. As someone who’s lived there, I laughed out loud.
I used to think it was only my bad luck relationships that brought codependency, insecurity, and addiction issues.
The couple is in the process of co-sponsoring Samson’s mother to immigrate to Canada, using Abe’s teacher salary to anchor the application. There’s a simmering tension here, though it’s not immediately clear why. Is it that both men are mama’s boys? Or that Samson, despite his Master’s in Communications, seems overly dependent on Abe’s income?
In the opening scenes, there’s an air of overcompensation—Abe is trying hard to prove how perfect their life and love is. It felt a bit exaggerated, even annoying at times. My partner agreed. But then the tone shifted—quickly and effectively.
In the time it took Samson to smoke a joint, the tone and tempo changed and became more emotional, dramatic, and realistic. There was a lot more buried under the snow than their apartment, and all this time with flickering power began to unearth the unspoken. You could feel the dramatic tension from the concept of being trapped both literally and metaphorically. This was largely due to the exceptional emotional translation— of the two (and only) lead actors, Jamal Weekes and Blake Pyne.
As the storm intensifies, so does the relationship. The couple unravels, hurling barbs that are all too familiar: who should do the dishes, where the painting should hang, whose turn it is to mop the floor.
And yet, amidst the tension, there are genuinely funny moments—some sharp, some warm, and some inside Newfoundland humour that landed well with the audience. My personal favourite? Samson’s jab at Abe, a Quebecois, calling him Mr. Churchill Falls.
With beautifully observed moments, a biting critique of Canada’s supposedly “well-regulated” immigration system, and a distinctly Newfoundland sense of place, 76CMs holds its audience through a raw, stormy, and emotionally charged couple of days.
Starring: Jamal Weekes as Samson; Blake Pyne as Abe
Directed by: Santiago Guzmán
Writer & Assistant Director: Xaiver Michael Campbell
Intimacy Director: Robyn Huxter
Performances: Wednesday, April 23 @ 6:00pm; Thursday, April 24 @ 7:30pm; Saturday, April 26 @ 8:45pm; Sunday, April 27 @ 1:30 pm. Get tickets here.
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