BANG BANG. Only the audience dies with laughter.

Theatre Review By Stephen Weir, Caribbean Camera
Today's Caribbean Camera - Review by Stephen Weir
Toronto’s Factory Lab Theatre has given auidences an extra few days to see a very funny dark play about the police shooting of an unarmed black man.   Bang Bang (guess what it is all about) was to close earlier this week, but, due to overwhelming demand for tickets  five additional performances have been added  - the curtain drops February 24th.

A rookie female black police officer (Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah) shoots an unarmed black youth, and a white playwright (Jeff Lillico) uses the incident as inspiration for his new hit play. Problem is, the playwright changes an important fact about the outcome of the shooting –  the victim survived the shooting but the very successful play (which everyone believes) has the victim dying from his gun shot wound.  The black community believe the play and turn against the rookie cop.
The play which got its world premier late in January, is set in the living room of the cop’s mother (Karen Robinson), keen on protecting her daughter at all costs from the outside world. As the disgraced police officer downs a breakfast of beer (and more beer), the playwright, (Sébastien Heins ) a  child TV star turned dramatic actor å la Drake and a body guard (Richard Zeppieri ) who is a dead ringer for Joe Pesci also show up at her door.
Horrors. The altered play that has ruined her life is now being adapted into an even more altered Hollywood movie without her consent.. Wary of the backlash he might receive, the playwright decides to visit the cop and tell her what is going on. Meanwhile the actor wants to study the cop so that he can recreate her every move in the movie.
BANG BANG questions the impact of what it means to be “inspired by true events” while finding the humour in a humourless situation.
Factory Lab on Bathurst Street is reporting nightly full houses and extended standing ovations. With such a raucous response it is not a shocker that the new     Kat Sandler play has been extended.


--> Bang Bang  is filled with witty, ironic banter and it is also has its moments: real gunfire, real beer breakfast and real bad potty mouth. This play within a play puts a final twist on the verbal swizzle stick that Toronto audiences are enjoying in this funny cop shocker.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sublimnos - Muse for James Cameron

Image
. . Sublimnos No Longer Out Of Sight … And Definitely Not Out of Mind By Stephen Weir It will take a long long time for a piece of Canadian dive history to rust into dust. Given the hard feelings surrounding the historic Sublimnos Project, the deteriorating, remains of that underwater habitat could well be an above-water Lake Ontario eyesore for years until rust indeed becomes dust. Back in the summer of 1969 Sublimnos was set down in the waters of Georgian Bay near Tobermory, Ontario the self-described "fresh water scuba diving capital of the world" .It was a bargain basement underwater research station. Constructed from a railroad tanker for just $10,000.00, Sublimnos became Canada’s first subsurface research laboratory. From 1969 to 1971 the Sublimnos project, funded and spearhead by physician, author, explorer and frequent Diver Magazine contributor Dr. Joe McInnis, was headline news around the world. Built to accommodate up to four divers at a time, in its first two-ye...
Read more

America Wild. The name of a movie, a metaphor for the star!

Image
. Recent Huffington Post Film Story by Stephen Weir   http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/../../stephen-weir/america-wild-interview_b_11397002.html Rachel Pohl - photo by George Socka “ I don’t work out.   I don’t diet.   I don’t prepare before climbing,” confessed 23-year old mountain climber Rachel Pohl.   “ Why can I (climb up a near vertical rock face) do it?   Thank my mother and father for their DNA!” The modest adventurer is starring in   "America Wild: National Parks Adventure".   She doesn’t simply climb mountains, she preternatural ly finds pinkie sized breaks in sheer rock faces. One foot on one side of a stone crevice, the other on a different rock face altogether. And between her legs? The great abyss.   publicity still - Devil's Tower America Wild, a new Imax movie narrated by Robert Redford, recently had its Canadian premiere in Toronto.   It has begun showing at museums, galleries and Science Centres all acro...
Read more

SCUBA DIVING INSPIRES UNDERWATER TATTOOS (AND TOE NAIL POLISH)

Image
 . Chasing Ink With Camera! One Day On A Little Cayman Dive Boat The compass has a dive flag. Celtic ink with 3 waves for the dive world Stripping down in Little Cayman's only food store Little Cayman Island, population 200, attracts only two types of visitors.  Ornithologists. Experienced Scuba Divers. Ornithologists because of the birds. The largest colony of Red Footed Boobies in the Caribbean is found on Little Cayman's Booby Pond. Scuba Divers go there because of the sheer wall of coral found in the island's underwater preserve, just north of the island. My wife and I returned from Little Cayman Island on Sunday.  We weren't there for the birds. Flamingo is the logo for dive haven Bonaire. We spent most of our week on a couple of dive boats. One large scuba boat was operated by Reef Divers out of the Little Cayman Resort.  The other, a small Boston Whaler operated by three divers, was out on the reef hunting the invasive lionfish...
Read more