Preview
COCKTALES 2: MR. AND MS. CONCEPTION
Ground Zero Theatre
Starring: Valerie Planche and David Trimble
Directed by: Sean Bowie
November 5 to November 23
Pumphouse Theatre
Don’t plan on quietly slipping away after seeing Cocktales 2: Mr. and Ms. Conception.
Ground Zero Theatre’s highly anticipated sequel to last year’s hit Cocktales is guaranteed to get you talking.
Actress Val Planche, for one, is looking forward to the reaction.
"I just love the fact that the two groups – Venus and Mars if you will – will be sitting in the same room, (the husbands) actually laughing at things and then realizing that their wife isn’t," Planche says. "The next minute, the women are going to be laughing and the husband’s going to be just sitting there. There’s going to be a lot to talk about when it’s over."
The roots of Cocktales 2 stretch back to Ground Zero’s successful staging of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues – an international phenomenon featuring women’s perspectives on the title piece of anatomy. Building on that, local playwrights Sean Bowie and Eugene Stickland created Cocktales, a collection of monologues by local writers celebrating the male perspective. Cocktales 2 attempts the monumental task of bringing the two sexes together in one show.
"It’s about misconceptions that women have about men," explains actor David Trimble.
"And that men have about women," adds Planche.
More than a dozen writers contributed to the script, giving it an open, free-form cabaret feel. The performance features a series of monologues interspersed with scene work and musical numbers. Actors and actresses alternate in the spotlight, and secrets and intimate fantasies are exposed.
There is also plenty of variety in the show, including comedy about favourite euphemisms for genitalia as well as poignant moments about fatherhood. The emphasis is on bringing together the male and the female perspectives.
"It's really about relationships," says Planche. "The misconceptions in relationships and how you think that everything is supposed to be so perfect. there are moments of really seeing the other person and the astonishment of that."
There will also be moments of surprise and, likely, more than a few of recognition.
"It’s bringing all of this out into a public forum," says Trimble. "What’s wonderful about reading these monologues and doing them is that you relate to it. It’s something you’ve had in the back of your head that you’ve kept there and now you’re talking about it with other people."
Cocktales 2 is not for the easily offended – it features frank discussions about genitalia, sex and sexuality. But Trimble emphasizes that it’s not gratuitous, and the point is to entertain, rather than shock, the audience.
"On many levels it pushes the envelope," adds Planche. "Some of the monologues that I have, I don’t know if I’d necessarily be saying them in my living room (at a) dinner party. But I think that all of it will really provoke a lot of conversation."
In keeping with the balanced perspective the show is striving for, the cast features three men and three women – joining Planche and Trimble are Christian Goutsis, Brieanna Moench, Nate Prochnau and Nicole Dunsdon – and each actor has written at least one piece in the show. Director Sean Bowie has relied on input from everyone in the cast on such things as structure and sequence, giving them a much greater participation than typical productions.
What’s fascinating about Cocktales is that no other theatre company has come up with a show quite like it, despite it’s inspiration, The Vagina Monologues, making appearances across North America. That says much about the original approach embraced by Ground Zero and their willingness to present theatre that is relevant to their audience. It’s hard to imagine an audience that won’t be able to relate to the content of Cocktales 2. |
