Walker - Dead Metaphor: Three Plays

These plays are dedicated to my parents, Florence and Malcolm Walker INTRODUCTION George F. Walker is back. With a vengeance, you might say, based on these three plays. But was he ever really gone? Except for a brief detour into television, Walker has been a persistent presence on the North American theatre scene since the heady days of the early 1970s when he and Canadian alternate theatre made their explosive, impolite appearance together. In almost two dozen dark, dark comedies leading up to this volume, and in his various TV episodics, Walker has relentlessly dissected economic ruthlessness, political corruption, dysfunctional families, and all kinds of abuses of power within the general craziness of urban North American life. With a sharp satirical eye and deep sympathy for the downtrodden, his Power Plays , East End Plays , Suburban Motel plays, and random others explore the stacked-deck injustices of the status quo and the forces that profit from keeping it that way.

These new plays, equally giddy and ferocious, tackle similar themes. After more than four decades Walker remains what critic Richard Ouzounian called him in a rave review of Dead Metaphor : Canadas angriest and funniest playwright. What makes him angry? Greed, blind ambition, venal politicians, social Darwinism, religious hypocrisy, clichs, and stupidity, among other things. And whats so funny? You name it. Walkers theatre is une comdie humaine . His people act absurdly because theyre people.

Self-awareness, when it comes, doesnt necessarily cause them to behave more astutely or understand things more acutely. And if it does, dont expect them to express themselves politely. Since I got my iPhone, pragmatic hooker Lianne says in The Burden of Self Awareness , I can suck cocks and read about things at the same time. What she reads has taught her that redistributing rich peoples money can make a difference in the lives of the troubled and destitute. Though Walkers characters may be vulgar, anxious, or deluded, only rarely are they paralyzed by their own absurdity. When in doubt they do something.

Often it involves picking up a gun or hiring someone whos packing. They have major concerns about accountability. The prevalence of guns in these plays might suggest an American setting but Walker never identifies his cities by name or region, much less nationality, and his work consistently speaks to audiences on both sides of the border. The treatment of veterans coming home from our twenty-first century wars is a significant issue in both countries; Dean, the sniper just returned from Afghanistan in Dead Metaphor , could as easily be Canadian as American. The Tea Party-ish politics of Helen in that play (running for Congress? Parliament?) may sound American teaching Intelligent Design doesnt get much traction in Canada but her positions on patriotism, gun ownership, taxes, attack ads, and climate change would not be out of place at a Conservative Party rally. The Ravine points obliquely in the direction of Walkers hometown of Toronto and the rantings of its recent mayor (those elitist bastards) but the campaign rhetoric has a distinct cross-border ring: I dont have ideas, I have beliefs.

I believe in the taxpayer. Walker is a satirical free trader, an equal opportunity social critic. Many of the central elements of Dead Metaphor repeat themselves in the other two plays. The innocents who try to remain hopeful in a corrupt world, Dean in this case, turn out to be not quite as innocent as they seem. The outspokenness of apparent truth-tellers like Hank, Deans father, may result from brain damage or mental illness. Women drive the baroque plots, partly from a biological imperative (pregnancy powerfully motivates Deans wife, Jenny, as it does Lesley in The Ravine ), but generally because, like Helen, they are simply more ambitious, ruthless, greedy, and amoral than the men.

Deans mother, Frannie, is the exception. Revenge schemes beget ironic reversals, counterplots, and confusions. Yet something gets done at the end, more sobering in Dead Metaphor than in The Ravine or The Burden of Self Awareness . Certain logical patterns play themselves out. Cassie, the antagonist of The Ravine , is another cynical, ambitious, political animal, mayoral candidate Oscars campaign manager. She meets her match in a different kind of powerful woman: Michele from the homeless camp, a classic Walker character.

Marginalized, possibly deranged, and deeply entangled in her own issues, Michele nevertheless has a utopian vision of society that demands accountability and includes things like universal daycare and a total revamp of the mental health situation as it relates to the criminal justice system. She manages to attain some leverage, possibly, but only after a great deal of carnage, comic and otherwise. Like former Army sniper Dean, many characters in these plays are transitioning from something they just were, trying to figure out how to be what they have become or to become something else. The Ravine s Cassie is an ex-prosecutor, skip tracer Finn an ex-con. In The Burden of Self Awareness , escort Lianne is a recent college student, a history major. Once a news anchor, Phil became a private eye (to live a life that was as sleazy as I felt).

Stan, the worlds worst shrink, is becoming a mental case. Rich Judy violently resists turning into a poor person as her anxious husband, Michael, tries to give away his inherited money to stop feeling inauthentic. Some of these characters end badly. Others find outlandish comic escape. A few even get away with murder. This is Walkers world, comedy with a bang.

And a social conscience. Jerry Wasserman DEAD METAPHOR PRODUCTION HISTORY Dead Metaphor premiered at San Franciscos American Conservatory Theater on March 9 to 24, 2013, with the following cast and crew: DEAN: George Hampe OLIVER: Anthony Fusco JENNY: Rebekah Brockman HANK: Tom Bloom FRANNIE: Sharon Lockwood HELEN: Ren Augesten Director: Irene Lewis Set Designer: Christopher Barreca Lighting Designer: Alexander V. Nichols Sound Designer: Cliff Caruthers Costume Designer: Lydia Tanji The Canadian premiere of Dead Metaphor was produced by Canadian Repertory Theatre and performed at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto from May 20 to June 8, 2014, with the following cast and crew: DEAN: Noah Reid OLIVER: Michael Healey JENNY: Haley McGee HANK: Eric Peterson FRANNIE: Julie Stewart HELEN: Nancy Beatty Director: George F. Walker Producer: Ken Gass Presenter: David Mirvish Set and Costume Designer: Shawn Kerwin Lighting Designer: Rebecca Picherack Sound Designer: Robin Johnston Associate Director: Jennifer Brewin Stage Manager: Crystal Salverda Assistant Stage Manager: Kevin Olson SETTING Various locations, all just suggested CHARACTERS Dean Trusk , a returned soldier, age twenty-seven OLIVER DENNY , an employment counsellor, age forty-five JENNY TRUSK , Deans wife, age twenty-seven HANK TRUSK , Deans father, age seventy FRANNIE TRUSK , Deans mother, age sixty-six HELEN DENNY , Olivers wife, age forty-five