Hilariously twisted one-liners, dysfunctional relationships, complex morality questions and at least one dead body? Welcome home, Morris Panych.
Last week, the playwright/director/actor returned from Toronto to his former stomping grounds. Hes directing the Western Canadian premiere of his play, , at the Arts Clubs Revue Stage. Its billed as a darkly funny comedy, a description thats arguably 75 per cent accurate.
I dont call it a comedy myself, Panych admits, laughing over the phone from his Toronto home, to which he returned after opening night. I dont call it anything. Thats a PR thing. If they say, Oh, its a bloody, gory, family mess, Im not sure thats going to convince people to come.
Theres a lot of comedy in it. Its certainly dark. But Ive written other things just as dark. I cant think of a play that Ive written where somebody doesnt die, even the comedies.... One of the best phrases ever invented was tragicomedy.
That fits. The story kicks off with ex-con Gordon breaking into the dilapidated home of his alcoholic, suicidal father, Old Gord, in small town Ontario. In Gordons tow: his prison buddy, the submissive, wannabe-Christian Carl and Deirdre, Gordons Top 40-singing girlfriend.
At first Old Gord thinks his boy has returned home from college to start a business, but Gordons real business pursuits have a decidedly more criminal and sinister nature. By and large the cast is fantastic and the tension culminates in a riveting, bone-chilling moment that has to be seen to be believed.
But even tragicomedy might be too simple a term to sufficiently capture Gordons long-lasting emotional resonance. In part, this comes from Panychs keen eye for details like Gordons aspirational vocabulary which perfectly captures the characters misguided belief that hes better than his origins but also because the story is part of the fabric of Panychs own childhood.
I grew up in a really working-class environment. A lot of my friends were from split families and there was a lot of crime in my neighbourhood. A lot of kids ended up jail. I grew up on an early diet of that kind of stuff and it stayed with me, Panych recalls. Later on in life, his father succeeded in his business, but Panych grew up poor and his father would do anything to make money, and took his son with him on Saturday morning rounds to machine shops collecting copper shavings to sell for money. Panych also recalls how his mothers stories planted the seeds for a shifty sons dubious homecoming.
My mother used to tell this story about her half-brother who would go away during the Depression and then come back, either with money or poor. Like a bum or with a hot car and a hot girl, Panych laughs. Nobody knew where he went, but he was a real black sheep and probably a criminal. It was always very fascinating to me and it stuck with me.
The story crystallized after Panych found himself killing time in Hamilton while his partner and longtime collaborator/set designer, Ken MacDonald, shopped the citys famed fabric street.
Id go down by the Stelco Plant, this gutted neighbourhood, and Id take pictures, Panych says. Or sometimes Id just sit there looking at the environment and being moved by it in some way. This big steel plant, the mechanism of capitalism and how it just eats people up and spits them out. Im not really a socialist or a political person at all, but I had these strong emotional feelings about it. Something about that environment stirred me and made me want to set a play there.
runs to Mar. 24 at Revue Stage, 8pm (Mon-Sat), 7:30pm (Tues). Matinees: Wed, Sat 2pm. $25-$35 from 604-687-1644. Read of how to save in this week's WE.
