The Bomb-Itty Of Errors -Teaches An Old Dog A New Trick
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Sometime in the afternoon yesterday it occurred
to me that Rosemary and I had a date to attend the opening of an Arts Club
Theatre production of Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, Gregory J. Qaiyum,
Erik Weiner, and Jeffrey Qaiyums’ A Bomb-itty of Errors.
I am a Roman Catholic and I believe not
only in the existence of hell but an almost as scary version called Hell on
Earth.
Hell on Earth could be being forced to
witness a tap dancing convention or driving to Seattle with a young man playing rap, very
loud in his car. I would probably open the door somewhere around White Rock and
exit pronto.
I do not know when hip-hop became rap or
the other way around. In fact I believe rap is bad poetry over bad robotic rhythm
machines.
Last night after 10 minutes of The
Bomb-itty of Errors and witnessing my Rosemary’s gaze in shock I had to add
salt to the wound by whispering into her ear, “There are 80 minutes more of
this!”
For those 10 minutes and many more I came
to the conclusion that Shakespeare’s English was far easier to understand. I
will never complain at a conventional production of King Lear again.
Yes! The Bomb-Itty of Errors is a fairly
accurate conversion of Shakespeare’s play, The Comedy of Errors to rap. There
are two short Dromios (one from Ephesus, the
other from Syracuse),
David Kaye and Niko Koupantsis) and two tall Antipholus (Antipholuses or
Antipholusi?), Brian Cochrane and Jameson Matthew Parker who also play
everybody else (who might be tall). Brian Cochrane also plays the unpoetic/unrapper,
but very Kosher Jewish jeweler so well I thought there were more than four
actors (at times actresses) in the play.
Somewhere around the 12 minute mark when I
might have thrown myself out of that rap car to hell I began to understand the
words and I heard myself laughing. At age 71, and my wife not too far behind (who
was smiling), we prove that you can indeed teach old dogs new tricks.
This play is hilarious and it has lots of
crude (more than ribald) humor featuring allusions to cunnilingus and fellatio plus connections
with baseball that are beyond base. Luckily I am well versed in that sport and
I know you cannot steal first base.
Best of all Niko Koupantsis who besides
playing Adriana’s (Jameson Matthew Parker) sister Luciana (sporting the
funniest lisp this side of a few CBC Radio announcers), also plays the meanest,
most corrupt, ethically and morally cop (gaoler I the original play) I have
ever seen or read about anywhere.
 |
| The Webb twins as the twin Dromios, 1864 |
But the real heroes of this play (that I
liked with no rhyme or reason) are the quick dressers back stage that keep
making one thing that the cast of four is a cast of thousands. The set design
by Ian Schimpf, with two sliding doors that open and close throughout the
90-minute, show keep it all flowing impossibly.
While I would recommend this play to all my
friends I would still not hop on that car, that hip-hop car to Seattle. On the other hand I just might go
along for the ride if Arts Club Managing Director, Bill Millerd would be my
companion.
After the show I spotted the Vancouver Sun’s former
theatre critic Peter Birnie. He was grinning. Ample proof he is not an old dog
yet.
