7 Important Things — Performance Video
2021 | Video | 65 minutes | Archival Tour Mash-Up
Edited and directed by Nadia Ross
Featuring George Acheson and Nadia Ross
7 Important Things — Performance Video is a video created from archival recordings of STO Union’s internationally acclaimed theatre production 7 Important Things, which toured between 2007 and 2015.
To learn more about the original theatre production, its international touring history, artistic credits and press reviews, visit 7 Important Things (2007–2015).
The original production told the true story of George Acheson, a man whose lifelong search for freedom took him through the countercultural movements of the 1960s, the emergence of punk, addiction, disillusionment and the search for a meaningful way to live.
Following George’s death in October 2020, Nadia Ross returned to video recordings made during the production’s eight years of international touring. These recordings, originally intended as documentation of live performances, were often filmed from awkward angles and in low resolution.
Working with this imperfect archival material, Ross assembled a new version of the performance, bringing together fragments from different cities, stages and moments in time.
The resulting video is both a record of an important STO Union production and a tribute to George Acheson. His story speaks to what can happen to a broken heart in a broken culture, while his defiant spirit and belief in peace, love and understanding remain at the centre of the work.
A Message from Director Nadia Ross
In 2007, STO Union premiered 7 Important Things at Canada’s National Arts Centre. It was the first time George had ever been on stage. We created the play together, based on his life, because we both felt that he had something important to say: about revolutions and their failures, about seeking freedom and finding prisons, about the haunting of the conquerors by the ghosts of the conquered, and about the clash of generations between wounded sons and fathers. It was also about heroin addiction and not belonging in this world.
I did not know then that the play would come to reflect our times with such chilling accuracy. In one of the play’s earliest reviews, the warning was already there:
“For those tackling climate change, preventing globalization or protesting the war on terror, his experience acts as an eerie prophecy of what may happen concerning our present idealistic fervour.”
Kat Fournier, Ottawa Xpress, May 2007
7 Important Things has become a warning from someone who travelled the road less travelled: no single person, group or country can avoid facing painful truths for long. To do so is to their own detriment.
What began at the National Arts Centre ended up touring internationally for almost eight years. As artistic director of STO Union and director of the play, my relationship with George touched every aspect of my life. We were romantically involved when I first met him. When that relationship ended, it developed into a rare and fortunate artistic collaboration. But most importantly, we were best friends.
George died in October 2020. Looking back, I see him in a way that I never did before, and I miss him in a way that I can’t describe. Life is just not the same.
This mash-up is a way to see 7 Important Things in a new light. It is a way to honour his message. As I gathered the material for this video in the fall of 2021, his story spoke louder than ever before.
R.I.P. my dearest friend.
Nadia Ross
2021
Video Credits
Edited and directed by: Nadia Ross
Featuring: George Acheson and Nadia Ross
Based on: 7 Important Things (2007–2015), created in collaboration by Nadia Ross and George Acheson and directed by Nadia Ross
Produced by: STO Union
Photo: George Acheson in 7 Important Things, photographed by Eric Fruhauf.
Related Production
7 Important Things (2007–2015) — Theatre
Created by Nadia Ross and George Acheson, 7 Important Things premiered at Canada’s National Arts Centre in 2007 and toured internationally until 2015.
Explore the original theatrical production →