>>PREVIEW
WEDGIE
Opens June 6
THEATREboom
(Dancers’ Studio West)
Coincidence abounds as the end of the 2006-07 theatre season makes way for a smattering of smaller, independent productions. Less than a month after the Downstage Performance society closed Sharon Pollock’s Guantanamo Bay agitprop play, Man Out of Joint, another young company is turning their sights to the excesses of war and human weakness. Yes, the similarities are striking – until you consider the Muppets, anyway.
Originally created as a collaborative piece centring on May 16, 1990, the day of Jim Henson’s death, Wedgie also notably differs from Pollock’s decidedly adult milieu with its "elementary" focus. Casting war through the lens of a grade school feud, playwright Jason Patrick Rothery immediately saw the possibilities for commentary on a global phenomenon renowned for being fuelled by ignorance, and no small comic potential.
"You live in this absurd hierarchy (in elementary school)," he says. "You don’t understand why some are more powerful than others, and that’s the perfect template for a comedy."
With a scale that in the world of the one-act can only be called epic, Wedgie is an elementary school battlefield driven by an ageless conflict between the (grade) "Sixes" and "Sevens." Steeped in arcane tradition (in true childlike form, "because" substitutes as an answer for any number of existential questions) and the play’s titular rallying cry (the name of a juice-soaked classmate whose honour must be restored), the ongoing war between the two sides draws in soldiers and bystanders alike. From the Sixes’ charismatic leader, Calvin (x), to a pair of nascent paramours driven apart by fate (Jessica x) will be going into grade five, while Simon (x) takes his place with the Sixes), the play’s Byzantine structure spins 15 characters across a rapid-fire succession of scenes. It’s full-blown war intrigue in miniature. That might sound as though Rothery and THEATREboom had set themselves toward Coles-Notes-assisted Tolstoy, until you consider the Muppets, bile-wrenching water balloons and some embarrassing experimentation with masturbation.
Gitmo jumpsuit-clad provocation this ain’t.
Pre-sophomoric characters notwithstanding, the production is a significant milestone for THEATREboom, both in its scale and its allusions to the company’s beginning. After being produced at the 2002 Vancouver Fringe by Upintheair Theatre, Wedgie was imported to Calgary in 2003 as the inaugural production for the young company, formed by graduates of Mount Royal College.
"I tried to talk them out of it," Rothery says. "I’m a pretty pragmatic person. I thought it was too much, too soon. But I gave them my blessing and they went for it."
Like THEATREboom itself, Jordan Schartner is experiencing a significant leap with the production. With his last stint as director overseeing a cast of only three in Go See a Play’s production of Never Swim Alone, his sudden jump to a cast and crew of over 20 is no small trial. If Schartner feels challenged by the production’s increased personnel and production values, he is reluctant to apply the same label to THEATREboom itself.
"We keep (saying) ‘ambitious’ and ‘small company approaching this,’" he says, "and if I hear that, I think this company is trying something too hard for them. And THEATREboom is not."
"This is (THEATREboom’s) largest cast, but with Fall Bill Volume II they still had 9 to 10 actors and two directors," agrees Rothery. "I think ambitious is the right word, but it shouldn’t be a catch all."
Citing The Daily Show and its ability to distil political events through political satire, Rothery recognizes the fine line between entertainment and didacticism that theatre treads with any political theme, whether confronting issues explicitly through deliberate provocation or through allegorical comedy. In the end, both Rothery and Schartner agree on at least one thing – if there are similarities between Man Out of Joint and Wedgie, they are certainly not going to be found in their respective approaches.
"I don’t need to tell you that shit is going bad. If there are people out there who don’t get that, that’s their problem," says Rothery. "It’s our job to break this down in a way that hopefully gives you a bit of a spin on your perspective, that we distil these things in a way that makes it more palatable, more digestible and maybe even find some way to find a proactive way of helping. I don’t know that people will leave this play and say we need to have a serious discussion about war."
"I kind of doubt it," responds Schartner, adding with the final, gentle prodding of a director who is seeing his comedy framed as political theatre: "I hope they won’t." |
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