Unexpecting: You’ve been warned

Unexpecting publicity photo. Zee Zee Theatre

Rahat Saini and Jessica Heafey in Carmen Alatorre’s costumes on Lachlin Johnston’s set
(Photo by Tina Krueger Kalic)

I hated this show so much that thinking about writing this review gave me a stomach ache. I don’t want to be cruel but, if I’m not frank, I’m not doing my job.

I first encountered playwright Bronwyn Carradine’s Unexpecting in early 2021 when it was an audio play produced by the Arts Club. Back then, I wrote that the script “skips along at a snappy sitcom pace”, but complained that “the piling on of obstacles often feels arbitrary and insubstantial.” Having gone through a couple of workshops since then — presumably with Zee Zee Theatre, the company producing this fully staged version — the script is now massively worse. And it’s been very badly directed by Cameron Mackenzie.

Within that, there are a couple of strong performances and Lachlan Johnston’s set is exciting.

Let’s get into it.

[Read more…]

My Little Tomato: Tasty until it’s not

publicity photo for My Little Tomato

Taylor Kare and Nelson Wong on Sophie Tang’s excellent set.
(Photo by Sarah Race)

I really enjoyed My Little Tomato — until I started to get tired of it.

It’s audacious, that’s for damn sure. In Rick Tae’s new script, Keaton Chu inherits his parents’ produce farm when they’re killed in a freak accident. Produce wholesaler Joe McKinley interrupts Keaton’s grief to insist that he honour his delivery obligations.

Keaton’s family is Chinese Canadian. Joe’s Irish on one side and Japanese on the other. Keaton and Joe are both gay and, when they figure out they’re attracted to one another, things quickly get complicated. Joe reminds Keaton of his white “best friend” from university, who coerced him into sex then ignored him. Keaton is still carrying a torch for white guys and feels like he’s never been enough. Joe, who is a bit of a bar star, is sexually confident, but emotionally he’s just as lost as Keaton is — never white or Japanese enough.

Right off the top, director Cameron Mackenzie serves notice that he’s going to deliver a slammer of an interpretation. When the lights come up, the first thing we see is Keaton lying in a circular pool — it looks like concrete — neck deep in brightly coloured plastic balls, an agonized look on his face. (Sophie Tang’s set is terrific.) More balls rain down on Keaton from high in the proscenium and right away we know two things: this character is awash in grief and the storytelling is going to be surreal. [Read more…]

Men Express Their Feelings — for your delight and edification

publicity photo for Men Express Their Feelings

Munish Sharma, Ishan Sandhu, and Quinn Churchill in a replay (Photo by Tina Krueger Kulic)

I’m having an identity crisis. If Vancouver companies don’t stop producing such good shows, I’m going to lose my reputation for being a hard ass.

Zee Zee Theatre’s production of Sunny Drake’s Men Express Their Feelings is a terrific ride.

It’s about two father/son pairs. The high-school-aged boys are on the same hockey team but, after one of their games, Mr. Bacon punched Mr. Sharma in the nose. That led to Ms. Skinner, who has some kind of authority in the league, laying down the law: either all four of them participate in a sharing circle — in their home arena’s locker room — or the boys won’t be back on the ice in time for the following week’s game (and a big scout from the majors is coming to that). [Read more…]

Black Boys brings it home

Buddies in Bad Time is presenting Black Boys at the Cultch as part of the PuSh Festival

Thomas Olajide leaps in Black Boys. (Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh)

It gets better. And I don’t mean that in the Dan Savage your-miserable-queer-adolescence-can-turn-into-a-happy-queer-adulthood sense. I mean Black Boys starts haltingly but hits a solid and satisfying groove.

In Black Boys, three men explore what it means to them to be black and queer—in Canada, mostly Toronto it seems—right now. Their experiences are very different. Stephen Jackman-Torkoff grew up in foster care in the Toronto suburbs. Tawiah Ben-Eben M’Carthy emigrated from Ghana. And Thomas Olajide started life in Vancouver, raised by his grandmother and aunt. [Read more…]

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