Valerie Methot's psychological thriller I KNOW YOUR SECRET dissects the dangers of social media
Some Assembly Theatre Company’s play, created in collaboration with diverse youth, reminds audiences of the internet’s exciting opportunities and frightening risks
I KNOW YOUR SECRET. Photo by Gaëtan Nerincx
Some Assembly Theatre Company presents I KNOW YOUR SECRET at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre for school groups on May 1 and 2 at 11 am and 1 pm, and the general public on May 3 and 4 at 7:30 pm
“ARE YOU CONCERNED about your personal information being on social media?”
It’s a question Some Assembly Theatre Company’s founder and artistic-executive director Valerie Methot found herself asking to more than 100 diverse youth throughout Vancouver during script research for her latest play, I KNOW YOUR SECRET. The psychological thriller takes a close look at how integrated social media is in young people’s lives. The most common answer to Methot’s query was a resounding “no”.
While there can be plenty of upsides to interacting in a digital realm, there are often downsides, too. Throughout their conversations, several teens expressed concerns to Methot about being stalked, scammed, hacked, cyberbullied, or even falling victim to fake news. She was also shocked to learn that many of them spent up to eight hours each school day on social media—oftentimes more on weekends.
“They love connecting with their friends, they love connecting with people in different areas of the world, they love the entertainment aspect,” Methot tells Stir before the play’s upcoming premiere at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre. “With the cons, some of them were talking about unwanted attention. Some were talking about the hate, and the negative comments. It was interesting, because I also heard from them that some of them rely on social media as their support, their doctor, their parent. So I thought, ‘Okay, well this is a big topic—and one that I think we should tackle.’”
In I KNOW YOUR SECRET, seven characters, played by diverse youth actors, arrive at a home belonging to Andy, a person they only know through the internet. The young folks’ conversations with Andy up until they meet are nothing but positive, and he is full of exciting promises, Methot says. But the nail-biting plot comes to a head when Andy’s identity is revealed at the end of the play (no spoilers, of course), serving as a warning sign of the potential dangers of social media.
Ciara Wilkinson as Angelique in I KNOW YOUR SECRET. Photo by Gaëtan Nerincx
The production hones in on several themes that Methot first visited in her 2013 play Sticks & Scones, which was about how easily online chat rooms can lead to cyberbullying when people hide behind fake personas in a realm where there is little to no accountability.
Methot was in the process of creating Sticks & Scones when Port Coquitlam teenager Amanda Todd died by suicide, following years of sexual exploitation and cyberbullying at the hands of a stranger she’d met on a webcam stream. Todd’s story received international press coverage and prompted the introduction of Bill C-13 in Canada, new legislation that protects minors from cyberbullying and revenge porn.
When Todd’s mom, Carol—who founded the Amanda Todd Trust anti-bullying organization after losing her daughter—heard about Methot’s Sticks & Scones, she attended a performance and spoke at a talkback afterwards. But more than a decade later, online forums still pose an immense risk to young people, which is why Methot was prompted to revisit the topic of social influence.
“It was really quite sad how real and raw it was for her mom, and how real this can be for people,” Methot says. “What I found in my script research is that generally speaking, young people don’t think that anything bad will happen to them online. I think that they just kind of look at being on social media, and what they do with it online, as downtime. And I’m doing this play because I want to promote the awareness that it’s important not to get so relaxed with social media.”
That feeling of being on edge is translated into I KNOW YOUR SECRET through the creative use of sound and media elements. Montreal-based musician Patrick Graham, whom Methot first met when she was studying fine arts at Concordia University, is the mind behind the production’s original sound design. His suspenseful theme music reappears at multiple instances throughout the play—and as the plot thickens, audio clips of the youth artists and interviewees that Methot and video artist Sally Zori worked with during the research phase are interjected. One of those audio clips, “I know your secret,” inspired the play’s title.
Methot shares that much of what makes I KNOW YOUR SECRET so captivating lies in its fast-paced visuals, which create a desire to know what happens next. Coincidentally, she notes, that’s also one of the aspects which makes social media so addictive nowadays.
“I really hope that we as a society can be more mindful about that, and encourage our young people to have more face-to-face interactions,” Methot shares, “because I think a lot of subtleties and a lot of genuine, truthful interactions are missing with social media. I think we, as humans, just aren’t meant to communicate via digital means.” 
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