Angry Alan at NLT - So much to talk about...

Brianne Jang BB Collective Photography

Friday night I took in the Opening Night of Angry Alan presented by Northern Light Theatre, directed by Trevor Schmidt and starring Cody Porter. When I attended the season launch for NLT I thought the casting of Porter was so smart, because in just the preview the things that his character (Roger) said were highly inflammatory. Only someone like Porter could play this role and not have everyone dislike (hate?) him and Roger, outright. This was confirmed when I saw the show. 

Roger is disillusioned with his life. It clearly has not gone the way he thought it would. It has not gone the way he felt he was promised - promised by society and it's expectations - and then Roger finds the Men's Rights Movement online. His frustrations with the world (which he finds unfair and inexplicable) are echoed by online persona Angry Alan, whose video rants feed Roger's need for answers. What's to blame? Feminism... it has clearly gone too far. All of a sudden Roger has the philosophy that makes him feel like it's not his fault. He goes down the rabbit hole and it leads to no good. 

I don't want to give all the story away, but it did go somewhere I totally did not expect. Depending on your personal perspective the first 2/3 of the play is really funny, if you forget that some people really believe what Roger is parroting. But at a certain point, you can't help but remember. Clips of some of the worst online offenders for spreading the myths of men's persecutions (I don't want to name them because they don't need any more presence than they already have) can't help but remind you that these predators are filling the heads of men out there with a lot of dangerous garbage. 

Brianne Jang BB Collective
Photography

It was an excellent night of theatre. Porter is spot-on, believable and human, and you get why Roger goes down the path he does. Schmidt's direction leads us through this journey subtly, and the piece as a whole is intensely conversation provoking. I had several conversations with people immediately after the play, and on the ride home, and then throughout the following day - discussing how this brain-washing happens. We're all a bit culpable but most of us won't admit it. Roger talks about how men are conditioned not to share their feelings. He says this more than once. I've heard men in my life (brothers, friends, colleagues) express frustrations and have them brushed aside or belittled or chastised because they are 'white middleclass men who have nothing to complain about because of their privilege'. When someone can't even have the conversation they need to have because they feel belittled or dismissed, all that frustration is going to get bottled up until they eventually explode, or a vacuum is created and there's always some vitriol on the internet to fill the void. With Roger, both happen, and it's not good for him or anybody else.

I'm still thinking about this. I will probably have many more conversations about it. I think we all should, and we all need to be listening instead of shouting. It's so incredibly timely. 

I'd recommend this, but please be prepared to have your assumptions challenged. 

Angry Alan is playing in the Studio Theatre Inside Fringe Theatre Adventures until February 8, 2025. The space is small so get your tickets sooner rather than later. Tickets range from $22-$37 with Pay-What-You-Can and 2-for-1 Nights during the run. You can purchase your tickets here. 

A Monstrously Exciting Season on the Horizon for Northern Light Theatre!

There were quite a few hints about what might be included in Northern Light Theatre's upcoming season rolling our in advance of their Season Launch last Monday.  Quotes from thrillers and murder mystery authors had me preparing for a spooky and scary line-up. I'm always down for what Northern Light Theatre is offering. They consistently choose the unusual and challenging and deliver with complete design concepts. Unlike other theatres in town, you are more likely to see something that surprises you and makes you think about something you haven't before. 

The new season, titled Making A Monster, presents three plays featuring characters possessing qualities of modern monsters in our midst!

"This season, NLT wants to examine the human capacity to be monstrous to other human beings", says Artistic Director Trevor Schmidt. "We want to ask ourselves and our audience what keeps us from behaving cruelly- and we want there to be discussion. Nobody is immune to terrible actions. We’re all prone to regressive processes. It’s very easy to enter the dark abyss where evil dwells. We all have the capacity to be monsters."

The first show is a World Premiere, Monstress by Trevor Schmidt, starring Julia van Dam and Sydney Williams. A twist on the Frankenstein story (with a reading evocative of the recent Oscar-nominated film Poor Things), one wonders where this will go and who the real monster will turn out to be. I'm looking forward to see the dynamic between the two women - disgraced scientist and horrible creation - and the inevitable conflicts inherent in that relationship. 

Next is the play that sparked the season's theme, Angry Alan by Penelope Skinner, starring Cody Porter. Porter plays the utterly miserable Roger, third assistant manager at a Safeway grocery store. With his life at crisis point, Roger is close to bursting. But when he stumbles upon Angry Alan - an online activist- he finally feels someone is speaking his language. Schmidt said that this was the show that started the search for more monstrous plays and he wondered if it was going to get them in trouble. It explores what happens when an ordinarily tolerant, but dissatisfied man is radicalized by false reasoning online, and begins to blame feminism for all that is wrong in his life. I'm looking forward to squirming in my seat next season. This is most likely the one that's going to make me do so!

The season will wrap up with Radiant Vermin by Philip Ridley, starring new grads Rain Matkin, and Eli Yaschuk, along with NLT favourite Holly Turner. In the modern age of out-of-reach property acquisition, it tells the story of an engaging young couple, Ollie and Jill, who had to do some shocking things to get their dream home. A wickedly comic satire about a young couple offered a 'too good to be true' way onto the property ladder. The scene presented hints at a Faustian bargain, or perhaps a deadly game show. It looks to be the kind of show to make you laugh out loud,... but guiltily. 

I'm looking forward to meeting the monsters up on NLT's stage next season, be they real or imagined, or perhaps living right next door! 

Subscriptions for all three shows are now on sale through Northern Light Theatre's website northernlighttheatre.com. Subscriptions start at $80 VIP pricing until June 1, and single tickets go on sale August 1, 2024.