Like a modern romance, this show feels like it’s making up its own rules as it goes along—and that’s a beautiful thing.
In Poly Queer Love Ballad, Gaby (Sara Vickruck) and Nina (Anais West) fall in love with one another—but Nina is bi and poly and Gaby is “the straightest gay you know.”
In the early going, the tenderness and rapture of this story made me weep big, nostalgic tears.
And I love the way the permeability and multiplicity of romantic options are reflected in the play’s structure. The storytelling happens in Gaby’s poppy folk songs, in Nina’s poetry, and in shorthand conversations: “Do you believe in God?/Do you believe in threesomes?” Favourite quote: “My ex-lovers stretch behind me. No novels. Just a short-story collection.”
The script doesn’t quite live up to its promised complexity. That’s at least partly because Nina has no shadow side: she’s a too-perfect spokesperson for polyamory.
Still, Poly Queer Love Ballad, which is an original script, is a major accomplishment.
Remaining performances at the Revue Stage on September 8 (2:45 p.m.), 9 (3:30 p.m.), 10 (9:15 p.m.), 14 (10:15 p.m.), and 16 (5:15 p.m.) > Colin Thomas
Sign up—free!—for Colin Thomas’s FRESH SHEET and get daily reviews from the Vancouver Fringe.
And, if you want to support informed, independent criticism, check out Colin’s Patreon campaign.
……….
About Colin Thomas
Leave a Reply