VICE VERSA
Punktuate! Productions
EPCOR CENTRE’S Motel
Until Sunday September 25 2011
If you are familiar with the work of that Canadian clown duo Mump & Smoot then you’ll have a pretty good idea what to expect at Punktuate! Productions’ Vice Versa showing in the Epcor Centre’s Motel Theatre until Sunday September 25.
In fact I spent the first few minutes of the show making a mental list of all the similarities Vice Versa shares with a Mump & Smoot production from the style of dress to the gibberish used to the existence of one high-status and one low-status character.
For those who aren’t familiar with Mump & Smoot I should explain that the characters rarely speak in intelligible English. For the most part they communicate using spoken gibberish but they do throw in the odd English line here and there to make sure the audience doesn’t get lost along the way. And surprisingly you soon forget they aren’t speaking English anyway; the actors are good enough to communicate the story without needing conventional text.
(Later I read some notes about the show and see that Vice Versa was first staged as a workshop show during Edmonton ’s Stage Lab Festival. Michael Kennard – Mump of Mump & Smoot – facilitated the workshop so I guess it’s no surprise the many similarities the show shares with the famous clown duo. In fact Vice Versa creators and performers Adam Cope and Elliott James credit Kennard for his “knowledge” and “experience” that were “instrumental” in creating the show.)
At the heart of Vice Versa is the relationship between a father and son Tonk (Cope) and Fozby (Elliott). We meet the pair as they are preparing a send – off for Tonk’s late wife (and Fozby’s late mother) Nada’s ashes.
At the show’s start Fozby can’t bring himself to make that final goodbye and scatter his mother’s ashes to the wind. Instead he places the bottle containing her ashes to lie in state atop his trombone case….and temporarily alongside her favourite turkey baster.
As her ashes look on father and son bond with one another sharing such adventures as roasting hotdogs on a trombone slide and Tonk instructing his son on how to woo a woman. (Blow-up doll included….)
Tonk wants his son to show some “machismo” a characteristic which Fozby seems to lack. Fozby meanwhile wants affection from his papa who has a near-and-dear relationship with the bottle and shies away from Fozby’s attempted embraces.
Vice Versa is absolutely hilarious and touching at the same time. As far as I’m concerned Cope and Elliott have nailed their parts. They make an audience feel for them despite their painted faces their gibberish and their silly escapades because of their commitment to their characters.
As the show ramped up I soon forgot about making my laundry list of comparisons to Mump & Smoot and gave myself up to the story taking place on stage.
The only thing I didn’t like? There were several incidents where the show was literally almost too gross for me to stomach. (I guess it’s the mark of a good actor when a guy slowly withdraws a cold wiener from his mouth covered in slobber and it induces stomach heaves…)
And I feel for the people who have to clean up the stage after each show because it was an absolute disgusting mess after Tonk’s and Fozby’s escapades. Yuck.
All-in-all though Vice Versa is a show that deserves to be seen. It was moving entertaining and despite its highly-stylized telling it took the audience on a journey into another world that became very real and absorbing for the hour or so it took to tell the story.
P.S. To the creators make sure to stay away from scented talcum powder. It kind of breaks the illusion…
