Anne McGladdery, Cobi Dayan and Shaan Rahman in Problem Child

Credit: David Lowes

The George F. Walker Show!

This week: Addicts who have children and the ex-cons who love them

The young guns up at UVic’s Phoenix Theatre are back with George F. Walker’s Problem Child and, after a long haul of period pieces (Romeo & Juliet, Medea, La Ronde), it’s nice to see the students doing something more rooted in their own era. A wry contemporary satire, 1997’s Problem Child is one of six plays making up Walker’s multiple-award-winning “Suburban Motel” cycle—but the most interesting thing about this Child is that it affords audiences the opportunity to see guest director Michael Shamata at work with a completely different kind of show than we have so far seen him tackle. Since taking on the role as artistic director of the Belfry back in 2009, he’s done drama (The Real Thing), musical (Anything That Moves) and monologue (The Year of Magical Thinking), so it’s a treat to see his touch with a fast-paced black comedy. Fortunately, and not the least surprisingly, Child delivers in both respects: the timing is quick and the humour is indeed dark like unsweetened chocolate.

Denise (Anne McGladdery) and R.J. (Cobi Dayan) have been holed up for a week in a crappy motel room in Anywhere, Canada, waiting for a call from their social worker, Helen (Natasha Salway); only problem is, the phone is busted and hapless drunk motel manager Philly (Shaan Rahman) is in no shape to fix it. In the meantime, they’ve been getting a bit stir crazy, with the ex-con R.J. obsessed by Geraldo-esque daytime television and the recovering addict Denise getting wound tighter by the minute as she waits to find out when, or if, Helen will return their infant daughter, previously seized by the authorities. Alas, things quickly deteriorate when a judgemental Helen finally arrives and wastes little time in confirming her worst fears about Denise’s maternal capabilities, and it isn’t long before things start to go all Fargo on our hapless anti-heroes. And when the loopy Philly gets brought into the gang, hilarious hijinx ensue! (Hardly.)

While Child is funny, you’ve really gotta like your comedy dark to enjoy this; fortunately, many of us do. Given the script’s TV-twisted view of reality (no surprise Walker is also known for his television work like The Newsroom and This Is Wonderland), Shamata has cleverly punctuated each of the short scenes in this 90-minute, no-intermission piece with snap blackouts and commercial-loud music tracks, effectively transferring the small box into the black box; not only does this make the skewed morality more palatable for the audience, but it also recreates a “reality” that will seem familiar to viewers like you.

Good work on the performance front by Dayan and Rahman, as the reforming father and justice-for-all alcoholic, respectively; I enjoyed Dayan’s sincere take as a none-too-bright guy who keeps getting smacked in the head by a reality he doesn’t (but should) expect, and Rahman brought a strong sense of physical comedy to the proceedings. And while I believed Salway’s turn as an officious social worker having a really bad day, I was less convinced by McGladdery’s more one-note mother on the verge; unfortunately, as the pivotal role, this puts a bit of a hole in the heart of the show and makes the (sort-of) climactic monologue just kinda hang there.

On the plus side, however, Shamata’s clearly having a good time putting these students through their paces, Walker’s clever script just clips along and the design work—Sarah Hillhouse’s remarkably effective grungy motel room (notably the slice-of-highway backdrop), Amanda Gougeon’s spot-on lighting and Chris Adams’ effective sound—lives up to the Phoenix’s usual quality.

While Problem Child isn’t exactly a light-hearted night at the theatre, it remains a brisk and relevant piece that gets a fair staging here. If you didn’t get to any of Vancouver’s cultural Olympiad—or if you did, and are now somewhat broke—give Problem Child a chance and help prove to the powers-that-be that Canadian art by Canadian artists can still draw an audience.

The Saturday matinee of Problem Child will offer Sign language interpretation by deaf interpreter Nigel Howard.

Problem Child
To February 27
UVic’s Phoenix Theatres
Tickets $12 to $22
250-721-8000
phoenixtheatres.ca