CANADA STEEL
Featuring Daniel Kash, Brian Marler, Alison Woolridge. Written by J
Karol Korczynski. Directed by Graham Cozzubbo. Presented by Canada
House Artistic Co-op. To Feb 17. Tue-Sat 8pm; Sun 2:30pm. $20-$25; Sun
PWYC. Tarragon Theatre ExtraSpace, 30 Bridgman. 416-531-1827.
www.totix.ca.
Canada House Artistic Cooperative’s second instalment in their Canada House trilogy, Canada Steel, exacts a consistently compelling exploration of greed, socialism, mental illness and family loyalty in the unlikely dramatic climate of post-steel boom Hamilton. Set in the very near future, J. Karol Korczynski’s (pictured) story tracks a couple of days in the life of a steel-working family as they try to make sense of the union blues. Laid-off Gus (Daniel Kash) weathers call-centre help-line hell in an effort to sort out his cancelled drug plan, further agitating his un-medicated psychiatric condition while anticipating a seemingly imminent Stanley Cup victory from his beloved Maple Leafs. All the while his wife Rose (played by Alison Woolridge) balances her discovery of a massive painting (unbeknownst to her a lost Diego Riviera depiction of the steel plant in its glory days) with the fact that her husband is on the verge of a violent relapse, their rent money has gone the way of his suspended pension and their teenage Tim Horton’s–working/conference-pilfering daughter Roxie (Charlotte Gowdy) wants to move in with her lesbian shift manager.
While these details seem like a lot of contributing factors to digest, they boil to the surface naturally and gradually, filling out the few-but-significant plot points with a tremendous amount of psychological drama. Understandably tense, the in-home dialogue between Gus, Rose and Roxie is an acerbic mix of frustrated arguments, neighbour-berating tangents, paranoid diatribes and ecstatic hockey-speak. Though this aspect opens on a note of high-strung intensity that borders on a shouting match, it’s gradually rounded out with moments of genuine tenderness and astute socio-political discourse — however the latter sometimes feels a bit too scripted as it belies the lower-middle class “likes” and “ehs.” Similarly, the ambitious examination of the clash of globalization and workers rights as seen through the corporatized steelworker’s union — complete with union credit cards — is somewhat obvious, yet effectively dissected.
Despite the ideological density and heavy emotions, it’s the moments of levity that give the play its most humanistic insights. Pragna Desai’s naive yet realistic Indian call-centre newbie Bhopal slowly works her way onto the stage from an unhelpful voice on the other end of Gus’s hopeless calls to a living and breathing embodiment of his union-minded idealism literally staring him in the face. With her charming attempts at western accents and eventual mastery of profanity, she represents both comic relief and an invaluable perspective.
Canada House Artistic Co-op’s mandate is for “bitingly progressive, socially critical plays in the tradition of Shaw, Brecht, Odets and Fo.” Canada Steel secures its relevance a combination of realistic self-loathing and unyielding hope that is as much a part of the struggle for workers rights as it is the dream of Toronto’s hockey fanatics.