麻豆传媒映画

A love bomb sounds like something you wouldn鈥檛 mind having strapped to your chest. Not so. To 鈥渓ove bomb鈥� someone means to inundate someone with expensive gifts in order to manipulate them: jewelry, designer clothing, a nice apartment. But it can also include drugs. And the manipulation can extend to demanding sexual favours and pimping out.

Love bombing is especially effective with young, insecure girls and women who mistake love bombs for love and who subsequently end up addicted, on the street or dead.

So where is Nicola, Lillian鈥檚 daughter with whom she has a stormy relationship and whom she hasn鈥檛 seen for seven months?

Meghan Gardiner, who wrote the Love Bomb book and lyrics, has come up with an extremely clever framework for this Shameless Hussy Productions鈥� world premiere. It鈥檚 a whole new kind of musical in which the songs provide sequential clues to an unravelling mystery. Rock star Justine (Sara Vickruck) sings her upcoming set 鈥� under some duress 鈥� during a sound check to distraught Lillian (Deb Pickman) who inveigles her way into the all-but-empty club, listens and takes notes.

While the music is Justine鈥檚, the lyrics come from Nicole鈥檚 diary 鈥� a series of poems that tell of her leaving home and eventually hooking up with a badass called Brian. Lillian, hearing Justine鈥檚 songs on the radio, has picked up on place names in Justine鈥檚 songs, realized that the lyrics are not Justine鈥檚 but Nicola鈥檚 and is prepared to do anything to get to the truth about her daughter. Justine and Nicola are somehow connected.

So Love Bomb is a musical but not like anything you鈥檝e heard before.

And you鈥檝e never seen or heard anything like Vickruck, either. Built like a little soccer player with a crazy haircut, work boots and black jeans, she鈥檚 simply dynamite. I don鈥檛 know where director Ren茅e Iaci found her, but Love Bomb is loud and proud with her. In fact, she鈥檚 what Shameless Hussy Productions is all about: strong, rebellious women 鈥渢elling provocative stories about women to inspire the hand that rocks the cradle to rock the world.鈥� Vickruck can belt a song, croon a song and massage a song into existence 鈥� and she can act, too. It鈥檚 a fantastic combination.

And for all of Justine鈥檚 bravado, Vickruck lets us peek into her character鈥檚 psyche to see a young woman not fully confident but letting 鈥榚r rip, anyway.

While Gardiner wrote the book and lyrics, Steve Charles wrote the music and some additional lyrics. It鈥檚 important to listen hard to the lyrics 鈥� not always easy 鈥� for therein are the clues to Nicola鈥檚 whereabouts. Vickruck performs 11 songs on three different guitars; the Firehall has seldom rocked quite like this.

Drew Facey鈥檚 set is an exposed brick club 鈥� empty except for Lillian and Justine; Itai Erdal鈥檚 lighting really takes off in the final moments. It鈥檚 a pretty spectacular curtain ringer.

On top of it all, it鈥檚 an important play 鈥� especially for parents. As hard as it often is to keep our teenaged children close, it鈥檚 a nasty world out there waiting for young adults 鈥� frequently young women 鈥� who feel abandoned or unloved. How many Nicks or Nicolas are there out there? And how few, like Justine, manage to escape?

Love Bomb is a very strong opener for the Firehall Arts Centre and, without suggesting it鈥檚 exclusively for young adults, it would make a great touring show throughout the school system.

For more reviews, go to joledingham.ca.
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