Theatre That Makes You Think: Leave of Absence by Lucia Frangione at Pacific Theatre

There are moments in Vancouver where I am seriously bowled over by the talent we have here.  Opening Night of Leave of Absence at Pacific Theatre was definitely one such night.  Phenomenal, sexy, laugh out loud funny, thought provoking and heart breaking. My date was balling by the end of it.  That is how emotionally charged it was.

 

 

In fact, he, Ian Alexander Martin, use to write theatre reviews, and Leave of Absence moved him so much that he felt the need to do a mini version of such on his facebook wall:

Thinking of seeing Leave of Absence by Lucia Frangione at Pacific Theatre? DOOOO IT! Emme Rogers took me last night & one of us cried at the end {ahem}. I may be coming down with a cold. Yeah. That’s it. Yeah…

Entirely unrelated: Catholic High School was rough for me…

… followed by an actual review on blog ~ RE:VIEW ~ Leave of Absence by Lucia Frangione with the lead in …

After a long absence from writing a theatre review, this was mostly written because I feel like I’m suffering an emotional hang-over after seeing it last night as Emme Rogers’ arm candy! Powerful, moving, and destined to be produced all over the fucking place. Go now! See this! Now! Don’t wait for final week: go now!

So who is the talent that so inspired Ian and I, and what is Leave of Absence about?  All start with the talent, especially as it allows me to shine a spotlight on a fellow Vancouver writer ~ Lucia Frangione. Lucia is a Vancouver-based writer, actor, and director, who has a reputation for creating thought provoking plays, like Espresso, which I haven’t seen, but have heard about from theatre lovers.  Critic Colin Thomas calls it “one of the best scripts ever produced by a Vancouver playwright.”  It also seems that many of Lucia’s work explores relationships within the Christian Church and finding one’s own spirituality, which certainly makes her a good fit for Pacific Theatre.  What I like about this aspect of her writing is that much of this in her work is questioning, showing the many layers and individuals within such a community, giving no particular answers, just many different perspectives and view points.  And I say this as someone that would call herself spiritual, but not religious.  In fact, I have at times been somewhat critical of organized religion, but then that is the beauty of Lucia’s work – she displays both the problems with organized religions, in her work, and the beauty.

 

 

Now on to the play itself, Leave of Absence …  Leave of Absence is a tale that is exploring relationships (and ultimately sexuality) in the Catholic Church in a very provocative manner, all told from the perspective of a woman.  What this is not, is a tale of the horrors of young boys getting taken advantage of in Catholic Church.  It does explore homosexuality, but rather through the eyes of a teenage girl coming to terms with her own sexuality.  We also explore sexuality through the eyes of a single Mom, a Catholic School Teacher, a recently widowed man, and a Catholic Priest.  For some the perspectives we see, and the ways in which this story of defining relationships and sexualities within the walls of a church that traditionally teaches repression, may be offensive, but for me it was laugh out loud funny, thought provoking, heart-breaking, and touching, with a definite shift between Act One to Act Two from amusing to heart breaking.  These are not superficial or one-dimensional characters, but rather complex ones, just as we all are in real life.  I especially loved Lucia’s depiction of her male characters, which while at first might portray quite a stereotypical light (purposely so, I am sure), we then see their many layers, that help us to better understand why they are behaving as they are.  I especially loved the Catholic Priest, who above and beyond anything else was represented as a man (rather than a man of the cloth), yearning for the fatherly love of a child and the husbandly love of a woman, all while struggling with his own faith and aspects of the Catholic Church that he himself could not and would not support.

While the focal point of the story was that of a teenage girl, struggling with her own sexuality and faith, I have admit that it was her character that I found the least interesting, perhaps because of the hard convictions of youth.  Her story, however, is a powerful one of bullying, and one that is so very important to be heard.  Bullying is not something to be taken lightly and something that as a society we need to put a stop to.

 

 

My accolades to the entire Cast & Crew ~ Maria Russell as Martha, Tom McBreath as Father Ryan, Karyn Guenther as Blake, Lucia Frangione as Greta, and Craig Erickson as Leap ~ Playwright Lucia Frangione, Director Morris Ertman, Dramaturg DD Krugler, Composer Jim Hodgkinson, Set Designer Drew Facey, Costume Designer Sydney Cavanagh, Lighting Designer Lauchlin Johnston, Sound Designer Jeff Tymoschuk, Stage Manager Jethelo E. Cabilete, Assistant Stage Manager Michelle Harrison, Assistant Costume Designer Catrina Jackson, Properties Manager Linsy Rotar, Technical Director Jess Howell, Head Electrician Kougar Basi and Venue Tech Denis Pimm. You told this story brilliantly, with a great deal of respect and care for the content.

I highly encourage you to catch Leave of Absence before it wraps on it’s Premiere run. It runs until February 16th, 2013, Wednesday – Saturday nights at 8 pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2 pm.  Tomorrow’s (Saturday February 9th) matinee should be extra interesting as it is followed by a Panel Discussion on Sexuality, Spirituality and Bullying at 4 pm, featuring Robin Perry of QMUNITY, Denis Benoit of Dignity Canada, and Lucia Frangione the Playwright, and moderated by Caroline MacGillivray of Beauty Nights.  Get your tickets by clicking on this link.

Enjoy!