FFWD REW

The secret lives of dish jockeys

Downstage’s new play mines the depths of a dishwashing dungeon

“If everybody was at the top of the heap there wouldn’t be a heap.” So philosophizes a character in Downstage Theatre’s latest Morris Panych’s The Dishwashers .

Panych’s work has appeared on local stages twice within the past year with Theatre Calgary’s stagings of The Overcoat and Vigil . The Calgary-born playwright has written nearly 20 plays with The Dishwashers being one of his newer works having premièred in 2005.

“It’s really a comedy that explores some provocative questions about wealth and taking pride in a workman-like approach to life” says Downstage artistic producer Simon Mallett. Directed by Kelly Reay the play follows three men who work in the dishwashing dungeon of an upscale restaurant.

“It’s a tribute to the working class who do the jobs that aren’t glamorous but are just as important as any jobs in a fancy office tower” says Reay. “Panych actually dedicated the play to his father who was a machinist.”

The play looks at the relationships and conflicting values of the three dish jockeys. There’s the career dishwasher Dressler (Duval Lang) who takes great pride in his job and believes the cleanliness of his dishes is vital to the bigger picture — namely the functioning of the restaurant upstairs. Newcomer to the sudsy scene is Emmett (Tyrell Crews). He has fallen on hard times and is driven to the drab dungeon out of desperation. His idea of success is to scale the heights of the corporate ladder. Moss is a fellow who has been there “since the dawn of the dishwashing age.” He’s old sick and has long given up on escaping the drudgery of doing dishes. Terry Gunvordahl who is known in Calgary for his lighting design takes a turn onstage as Moss.

Much of the play concerns the clashing of ideologies between these men — the rejection of “the folks upstairs” and the aspiration to join them. “The play explores the fallacy of the idea of a classless society” says Mallett.

Cushioning the philosophy however is a generous dose of comedy. “It’s a really funny play first and foremost” says Reay. Mallett himself a playwright notes that Panych “explores the provocative questions without being a diatribe. Anything too didactic and the audience shuts off” he says.

Mallett says that this year Downstage chose to focus on “turning inwards toward the city. If you look at downtown Calgary and the number of upscale restaurants there the play could be set anywhere in one of those basements” he says.

“Morris doesn’t say one way is better than the other — he illustrates everybody’s point of view” Reay adds. “He leaves the viewer to decide.”

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