>>PREVIEW
BRIDEZILLA
Opens February 2
Mob Hit Productions
Vertigo Studio Theatre (Tower Centre)
"Godzilla was a natural creature," says Scott Roberts, director of Bridezilla. "A komodo dragon that was corrupted by science, technology and human society. It turned into this monster. I think a Bridezilla is the same. It’s a really natural thing to become a bride, to get married and have a wedding, but there’s so much pressure on them to be perfect and have this perfect kind of wedding that they naturally turn into monsters."
Bridezilla is a name that almost seems familiar to those who have attended a few weddings. One doesn’t doubt that the moniker will be used by theatre-goers – under their breath and into their napkins, of course – at the next wedding they go to. "I guess (the name) is pretty self-explanatory," laughs Roberts. "The show is an original comedy written by Ellen Chorley, and the idea germinated from a conversation we were having with one of our patrons. We were asking him, ‘What are the kinds of things you’d like to see?’ They’d heard about this reality TV show about these awful brides-to-be being raised in upstate New York, and the kind of hell they were putting their friends and family through. We thought a play about that issue, in a town like Calgary that’s got lots of money coming in – and lots of young people – would do pretty well and be really relevant and funny."
Tia Sutton is the name of Mob Hit’s sweetheart, the woman who emerges from the nuclear disaster of planning a wedding as a freak-powered bride bent on absolute perfection. "She is still a human being," Roberts says. "We’re not out there to create this stereotype. I mean, all brides are complex and they’re all under a lot of pressure. There’s a lot of reasons for why they do what they do.
"She just happens to be a total control freak, and puts her family and friends and husband-to-be just through hell trying to make her happy," Roberts says. "Things like making sure that her friends don’t wear makeup to the ceremony – so she’s sure to look better than them – and she’s operating under the three-strikes rule – if you screw up, you have three strikes and then you’re out. A lot of this stuff is drawn from Ellen’s imagination, but also from reality – there’s a little bit of that mixed in, these urban tales of other bridezillas that she’s heard about."
These are simply small details of Tia’s madness. But it isn’t so much that Tia is crazy as that the wild, expensive process of getting married has driven her over the edge. With the wedding industry making billions of dollars a year, Bridezilla is not only a frighteningly familiar ground for comedy, but an incredulous look at just what it is we want from our brides.
"The average price of a wedding is somewhere between 30 to 40 thousand dollars. I just find that completely extraordinary," says Roberts. "Thematically, it speaks to the kinds of pressure that women are under in society on all sorts of levels, with everything from beauty products to fashion to how they look. That extends right into the wedding process, with the cakes and the dresses and the music. It’s all centred around stuff that you have to purchase for this very special day that has to be perfect – great fodder for comedy."
Perhaps audiences can also take a lesson home from experiencing the monster of the perfect day. "People are so concerned over this one day, and it’s only one day," says Roberts. "I mean, it’s nice to make that first good impression, I guess, but just because you have a good wedding doesn’t mean that you’re going to have a good marriage. I think that’s been proven." |
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