Jamie Konchak and Curt McKinstry hash out their differences in Power Play.

DETAILS

Power Lunch presented by Lunchbox Theatre
Lunchbox Theatre
Monday, September 14 - Saturday, October 10

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The opening play of Lunchbox Theatre’s 2009-10 season, Power Lunch, is, on the surface, silly. The characters are caricatures, the acting is over-the-top and some of the play’s situations make little-to-no sense.

But perhaps not surprisingly, given the impressive resume of playwright Alan Ball, who created the acclaimed TV series Six Feet Under, as well as the hit vampire show True Blood, there’s an attempt at more profundity — dressed in the guise of comedy — than first meets the eye. However, unlike his TV successes, Ball’s efforts at creating something truly original with Power Lunch fall short of hitting the mark.

Appropriate for a theatre that caters to noontime crowds, Power Lunch follows a lunch-hour encounter between two characters: Woman (Jamie Konchak) and Man (Curt McKinstry). Waiter (Frank Zotter), who, following a sex-change operation during the course of the show, becomes the Waitress (Cheryl Hutton), rounds out the cast. Former Lunchbox artistic director Rona Waddington directs.

The Man and the Woman arrive at the same restaurant, presumably on lunch break, as both are dressed in corporate costumes. While she reads her Harlequin, and he his Playboy, they find themselves engaging in conversation, both clearly desperate for meaningful intimacy. Almost immediately, however, their dialogue erupts into a rapid-fire tirade of insults and “observations” on the other’s gender, ranging from comments on how he uses his string of vacuous sexual conquests to inflate his ego, to how she uses her scarf — a sort of tie substitute — to emulate the corporate power of man.

Their volley of insults is interrupted periodically by impromptu dance sequences; the characters have no control over these biologically driven mating rituals that push them together despite their arguments. These are the most enjoyable moments of the show; after the never-ending, frantic onslaught of words, the music breaks are welcome.

Most of the dialogue is aimed at exposing the stereotypes we attach to gender and the pressures men and women face in trying to live up to them. The Man pretends to drive a Porsche for most of the show and only owns up to his Corolla-status reluctantly.

When gender reversals take place — the Man’s teary breakdowns and the Woman’s brief turn as sexual predator — the other is clearly uncomfortable with the change. The Man switches, instantly, from professing his love to warding off the Woman’s amorous advances with a chair.

I think Ball is trying to get audience members involved in recognizing their own preconceived notions of gender when the Waiter enters. While a male actor plays the Waiter, the Waiter claims he’s actually a she. But it’s hard to get past the character’s male visage, no matter what “she” says. To further confuse things, the Waiter later returns — now as the Waitress thanks to a sex-change operation — and claims she’s actually a he. Huh?

Unless you take the humour of this character strictly at face value and find laughs in the Waiter lusting after the Man in true lip-licking fashion, you might become just as frustrated as I did trying to figure out the nuances of his purpose in the show. Zotter clearly relishes his role as the Waiter. In fact, all cast members perform their roles with gusto.

If you listen carefully and try to catch all that Power Lunch says about gender stereotypes, male-female relations and corporate culture, you’ll find there’s a lot there, almost a little too much for a crowd digesting their lunch.

That said, while I think Ball is attempting a high degree of cleverness in his work, a lot of the gender material seems old news and the presentation is confusing. As such, about 30 minutes into the 45-minute production, I started thinking less power lunch and more power nap.