Fatboy... Hard to Describe... Harder to Stop Laughing...

I took in the ridiculous and excessive Fatboy by John Clancy (not to be confused with the author of The Hunt For Red October) directed with controlled abandon by Dave Horak and presented at Theatre Network by the Edmonton Actor's Theatre. This is not a show for the faint of heart. It's rude, and bawling and lusty and violent and irreverent and full of more curses per minute than any of show I have seen in my life. I will admit, at first I wasn't sure what I was watching.  The show starts with a belligerent bang of a shouting match between Fatboy (Frederick Zbryski) and his extremely buxom wife, Fudgie (Melissa Thingelstad). It's over the top - not in a Broadway musical kind of way - but in a nightmarish, twisted circus of lechery and violence.  Once acclimatized to the phenomenal patter of cursing interspersed with cries for Sausages!! and Pancakes!! I just held on and went for the ride. They are joined by a multitude of characters played brilliantly by Ian Leung, Tim Cooper and Mathew Hulshof.  The entire cast is incredible.  This kind of piece only succeeds with 100% commitment to the choices and, boy, do they commit.  There were so many times while watching that I marveled at how good they all were.  The world was so complete and there was never a glimpse of the real person beneath the white pancake make-up on their faces. It was as though they had been doing this show for years.  Zbryski's patter is both frightening and hilarious. Thingelstad is marvellously brash.  It's all complimented by a delightfully tilted and distressed set designed by Scott Peters and costumes that are whimsical and macabre designed by Melissa Cuerrier.

The tale is a twisted reinterpretation of the scandalous Ubu Roi (1897) by Alfred Jarry - famous for opening and closing on the same night and causing a riot in the theatre. A comment on the excess of our world, and on the inherent selfishness of humankind, particularly those in power.  It's a little mind-blowing at the end.  I am personally not quite as cynical as the play is in it's final moments.  I can't see the world quite in the way that is suggested by the wrap up.  What can I say? I'm an idealist. But after the roller coaster of violence and ridiculousness is over, the closing comments are what you'll be talking about with your friends for hours afterwards. Depending on where you sit on the spectrum of political and social belief, I think you will come away from this with a completely different reaction. It's really whether you can see Fatboy in Kim Jong Il or perhaps  Rob Ford or your Next-door-Neighbors or even yourself that will tell just how you see the world.

I'd say this is a must-see for those that can handle the language and violence (the violence is all very comical, but for the faint of heart...).  If you are an Edmonton theatre aficionado you simply
have no excuse.  If you are a drama student at either of the two Universities I would be appalled if you missed it. It's a masterclass. Give yourself permission to laugh, and buckle-up for the ride!

Photo credit: Ryan Parker

An Accident... Forgiving Yourself and Moving On...

Years ago, someone very close to me was driving on a dark winter's night.  She was not driving recklessly or fast, but it was winter and a little icy and dark.  She rounded a corner in a subdivision and a black object flew onto the road in front of her - it looked like a black garbage bag - she braked and tried to avoid hitting it but it came out too fast and she hit it and slid down the road with it under her car for a few metres. It was not a garbage bag.  It was a 10 or 11 year old boy who was tobogganing into the road from a snowbank alongside the subdivision street.  There wasn't anything she could have done other than being psychic to avoid it.  Thankfully, he was ultimately okay, but he did suffer a head injury and was hospitalized for some time until he recovered.  Until he was okay, it was a part of her - a constant piece of her mind was dedicated to worry and a feeling of responsibility and a need to be engaged in active thought towards his recovery. I imagine it still is today...

I thought a lot about this after seeing Northern Light Theatre's production of An Accident.  Things happen, accidents happen, we do not intend them to happen.  They happen when we are not even being careless.  They are not intentional.  They are accidents.  But we own them.  We dwell on them.  We feel responsible.  We need things to be okay. And on the other side, when we are damaged by others, however unintentionally, we want redress.  We want someone to be responsible.  We want it not to just be an accident. We want to assign blame and have an answer for the why did this happen? This production so beautifully articulated these zig-zagging feelings of responsibility and blame and of the connection between those who are injured and those who have injured.  Michael Peng and Melissa Thingelstad play injurer and injured respectively - neither completely blameless or responsible - both angry and sad and tied together. Trevor Schmidt's direction and their performances are heart-breaking and ultimately cathartic.

I have had the extreme pleasure of seeing a lot of theatre this season due to my good fortune and winning that awesome prize.  Based on the quality of the work and the thought-provoking and  engaging theatre I have seen at Northern Light Theatre this season I will definitely be buying season's tickets for next year.