Acclaimed novel hits the stage

At a recent media call for the MacEwan Theatre Arts winter production of the Canadian premiere of Vernon God Little, the unfinished set leaped out.

A chain-link fencing surrounded the intimate black box Theatre Lab created a deathly, trapped feeling. Signs plastered on the fence made one wonder what kind of hell lay ahead.

One read, “This is God’s country, please don’t ride through it like hell.” Another blasted out with “Topless. Now we have all pretty girls.” A third simply advocated, “Please neuter your pets.”

Theatre arts chair Jim Guedo, also the show’s director, comes out strongly in favour of this madly theatrical show layered with country music and multi-media. It runs at the MacEwan Centre for the Arts until Dec. 10.

“It’s a wild ride. It’s highly energetic, fast-paced and stylistically it borders on the cartoonish. It’s like a three-ring circus and it’s a good stretch for the students,” Guedo says.

Vernon God Little is an adaptation of DBC Pierre’s 2003 Man Booker Prize award-winning novel of a 15-year-old unjustly arrested as an accessory in a high school massacre.

As the play opens in Texas, Vernon’s best friend has massacred 16 school children and killed himself. No one believes Vernon is innocent and he is arrested.

The hapless teen turns into the town’s scapegoat and no one seems interested in listening to his story. In this insane world of adults, even his mother and a predatory TV repairman that passes himself off as a reporter, use Vernon for their own selfish needs.

In desperation, the teen goes on the lam, but the further he runs the more he appears guilty. As the play moves along, justice turns into show business and the massacre is something to be marketed.

“It looks at our media-driven culture and at our success-driven culture that we see through television programs such as American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. It’s all about people who want to be famous and skip the steps that build the foundations of life,” says Guedo.

St. Albert’s own Robyn Kumish has landed the role of Doris, Vernon’s self-centred mother, a role that’s a stretch for her.

“She’s desperate. She wants attention from everyone. She wants everything to be about her. She’s not a good person, but then this whole play is full of people who exist in the world, but who you wouldn’t want to meet,” Kumish says.

Another juicy character is Eulila, the fake reporter played by Steven Angove. The St. Albert actor, who had to adopt a Mexican accent, is clearly contemptuous of the politically incorrect character.

“He’s a crazy, messed-up human being. His only goal in life is to be famous, and he will screw anybody – even his own mother and she’s blind.”

For Kumish, the play’s kooks are what make the show.

“It’s an intriguing piece of theatre. I don’t think anyone has seen anything like it before. It’s full of so many complicated emotions, but it’s fun, too.”