Preview
THE BOY’S OWN JEDI HANDBOOK
Alberta Theatre Projects
Starring Christian Goutsis, C. Adam Leigh, Esther Purves-Smith and Shari Wattling
Written by Stephen Massicotte
Directed by Johnanne Deleeuw
Runs until December 24
Martha Cohen Theatre (Epcor Centre)
A longish time ago, in a theatre somewhat far away, a tiny, no-frills play by an unknown Calgary playwright opened at the Edmonton Fringe. It had the ridiculous but compelling title of The Boy’s Own Jedi Handbook. Audiences loved it so much that it was staged again and again – but always on a shoestring budget.
However, this holiday season, Jedi finally hits the big time. Alberta Theatre Projects has chosen to stage what is certainly one of the most charming cult hits ever to come out of Calgary. And, for the first time, Stephen Massicotte’s popular play will have the full production values, venue and budget it deserves.
Actually a trilogy of short plays, The Boy’s Own Jedi Handbook follows the obsessive love of two boys for the greatest sci-fi fantasy movie ever made. In the first part, our preteen heroes, "The Kid" and his best friend James, experience the life-changing event of watching Star Wars for the very first time.
Now, if you’re under the age of 35, you likely won’t remember what a momentous event it was when George Lucas’s first Star Wars film was released in 1977. After that, movies and school playgrounds were never the same. Suddenly, you could see that your teacher was in league with the Dark Side of the Force and that your mission was to destroy the Empire, save the princess and defeat evil. You were no longer a sugar-addled 10-year-old with an over-active imagination, but a sugar-addled Jedi Knight, learning the ways of the Force. You knew, deep down, that this movie was the best thing to happen in your life and you ate, lived and breathed Star Wars.
Massicotte’s play captures that phenomenon perfectly. It is both an homage to a great film and to a great time in any kid’s life, when anything you do and feel is more real and more magical than at any other time in your life.
"It was a great time to be a kid," recalls Massicotte, who is no longer unknown but one of Canada’s hottest young playwrights, thanks to plays like Jedi and the much-produced Mary’s Wedding. He based Jedi on his own childhood, he says. "I tried to put that (feeling) across and it seems that a lot of other people… identify with the play."
The first play’s success at the Edmonton Fringe led Massicotte to write the second part, this time depicting the double whammy experienced by James and The Kid when the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, is released at the same time that the pair discovers girls. Subtitled The Girls Strike Back, it was staged alongside the first play by its original producers, Calgary’s Ground Zero Theatre.
By then Massicotte was starting to have a phenomenon on his hands. As well as Calgary and Edmonton, Jedi was also presented in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Vancouver, playing in small theatres to sell-out crowds. Last year, Massicotte wrote one last instalment to complete the trilogy, taking his cues from the third Star Wars release, Return of the Jedi, and that dark time we call adolescence. It made its debut when Ground Zero and the University of Calgary produced the complete trilogy last season.
"Unfortunately, the version at ATP will be including only the first two parts," says Massicotte. "Which is too bad, because the third part is my favourite, but (it’s) just too dark for a Christmas play."
However, he adds, the ATP production is more than just a revival of the two original plays.
"The latest version has a lot of new stuff, it’s more like a Boy’s Own Jedi Special Edition," he says. "Jedi was almost the first play I wrote and I have rewritten and punched up the humour in this version of the play."
The show is directed by Johanne Deleeuw of Lunchbox Theatre and stars Christian Goutsis and C. Adam Leigh – who’ve both performed the play before – as The Kid and James, along with Esther Purves-Smith and Shari Wattling as the girls who enter their lives.
"It’s a fun show, and the production crew and players are all fans of the movies and they are really gung-ho about the material," says Massicotte. "I was laughing my ass off in rehearsal, so I’m looking forward to opening night."
Asked if he’ll ever write another instalment in the Jedi series, Massicotte just laughs. "I’m very happy with the play as it stands now," he says. "I’m already getting too much attention as the guy who wrote ‘that Star Wars play’ and sooner or later someone is going to tell George Lucas. Hopefully he won’t sue." |
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