BF stands for Brad Fraser, Canadian badboy playwright, and it also stands for Best Friends. That鈥檚 the combination in 5@50: five best friends 鈥� all women and all on the cusp of turning 50 鈥� as imagined by Fraser (Poor Superman, Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love). Curious that a guy would think he knows something about women entering their fifth decade.
He gets some of it right. But not all of it. In a Huffington Post interview referring to 5@50, he said, 鈥淲hen a woman turns 50, it鈥檚 such a milestone, and it鈥檚 a similarity within the gay community. Finding a specific focus was easy. What is the major concern going on in my peer group? Addiction. A lot of people I know my age are either drunk or in AA.
Addictions define us in middle age 鈥� we have to address them.鈥�
Having seen both sides of 50 and being female, I don鈥檛 believe that addictions define women in middle age. At 50, most of us are thinking about retirement and whether we can afford it. A lot of us are on our own again. We worry about our children and our mortgage (if we鈥檙e lucky enough to have a home). Careers. Aging parents. Global warming. Donald Trump. Who has time, money or energy for addiction?
What Fraser does get right is the support women get from their friends. The older we women get, the more we rely on friends and especially the women friends we鈥檝e had for years.
In 5@50, Olivia (outrageously portrayed by the incomparable Deborah Williams) has become an alcoholic, and it鈥檚 her friends 鈥� homemaker Fern (Donna Yamamoto), journalist Tricia (Veena Sood) and many-times married Lorene (Diane Brown) 鈥� who decide something has to be done about her. Olivia鈥檚 lesbian partner and medical doctor Norma (Beatrice Zeilinger) is, unbelievably, OK with the status quo; she fears a reformed Olivia will stop loving her.
Supportive as they are, these women get really nasty with each other 鈥� our old friends are far too dear to us to alienate them. So their dissing 鈥� name-calling that can never be taken back 鈥� doesn鈥檛 feel likely.
Fraser writes very sharp, very funny dialogue and the best of the lines are given to Sood, as Tricia. She鈥檚 also the character we like the most because she鈥檚 honest, smart and grounded. We don鈥檛 get much of a handle on Lorene (Brown鈥檚 character); after the failure of a handful of marriages, she鈥檚 now married to a guy who鈥檚 gay and she has adult children with whom she has lost touch. Lorene is self-obsessed and not very nice. Yamamoto鈥檚 character Fern has taken the conservative route and married a guy that鈥檚 safe but boring. She does yoga a lot. Williams does a superb job of being the loud-mouthed drunk. But there鈥檚 one character in the mix that doesn鈥檛 really work. Norma starts off grumpy, gets grumpier and ends sad. Without giving much away, Norma betrays Olivia and I didn鈥檛 believe it for a minute. Zeilinger does her best, but Norma remains the least credible of this quintet.聽 聽
Set and costume design is by Marina Szijarto; lighting design is Kyla Gardiner鈥檚.
All Fraser鈥檚 misperceptions aside, directed by Cameron MacKenzie for Zee Zee Theatre and Ruby Slippers, 5@50 is sharp and funny. I laughed in spite of myself, and it was only after the fact that I saw, once again, images of women as projected by a guy. I almost fell for it.
If you want the real deal, stay tuned for the next incarnation of Mom鈥檚 The Word 鈥� Mom鈥檚 The Word 3: Nest 陆 Empty 鈥� coming up in 2017. These women/writers/performers are living it and know what it鈥檚 really like to be female and 50. Their addiction may be for creating theatre 鈥� let鈥檚 hope there鈥檚 no cure for that.
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5@50 is at PAL Theatre until May 28. For tickets, call 604-257-0350 or go to .
