Conservatives in Love
BY Monique Montgomery January 03, 2008 17:01
Featuring Jason Jazrawy, Anne Page. Written by Dave Carley. Directed by Sue Miner. Presented by Pea Green Theatre. Part of Next Stage Theatre Festival. Jan 7, 7:15pm?; Jan 8, 9pm; Jan 10, 7pm; Jan 11, 9pm; Jan 12, 3:15pm; Jan 13, 7pm. $15; $12 mats; $44 four-play pass; $88 eight-play pass. Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst. 416-966-1062. www.nextstagefestival.com.
Comedy / Mature Audience / Warning: Richard and Jaz take their shirts off. The girls don't.
Running time: 70 Minutes
Dave Carley’s political sex-farce about 10 thirtysomethings thrown together during a Young Conservatives meeting at a prominent Toronto art gallery is well written and skillfully played. Marie Beath Badian, Jason Jazrawy, Richard Lee and Anne Page convincingly play between two and three characters each and are so adept at timely exits and whirlwind costume changes that, by the end of the show, one expects a larger cast to be taking bows.
Carley’s satire takes easy, confident shots at his targets, lampooning his not-so-young conservatives as dumb and apolitical. There is a beautiful balance to the piece, however, in the equally unattractive depiction of a rogue young liberal and also in the development of increasingly likable conservative characters. Even as the timid Kenny (Jazrawy) blurts out, “Fuck recycling bins,” the audience gets a sense of the characters’ humanity hidden beneath so much shortsighted egocentrism. By the end, we’re almost on board with the excited Tory who, amped up for the climactic christening of a Very Important Area of the gallery in response to a sizable donation, exclaims, “Let’s go name something!” Almost.
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1
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