Choke Coughs up Balanced Mix of Laughs and Tears
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A&E [email protected] tuesday, 6 november, 2007 Choke coughs up balanced mix of laughs and tears on like this, it’ll be like an epi- Their widowed mother Catherine with the audience. new odour took over. theatrereview sode of Cheech and Chong with a (Maralyn Ryan), a somewhat over- On the other hand, Bullough’s Also adding to the realism of the couple of modern-day video game weight smoker, is only too happy Greg is less successful, though this piece was the set design. Complete Choke junkies. to oblige her boys, making all of isn’t simply the actor’s fault, as it’s a with foyer, kitchen, living room, Runs until 18 November But it doesn’t. In fact, a number their meals and doing the laundry. combination of writing, directing, dining room, and working appli- Written by Cathleen Rootsaert of later scenes had many in the However, the tables are turned on and acting that make his perfor- ances, it was easy for the audience to Directed by Marianne Copithorn crowd shedding tears of sadness, Catherine’s sons when she suffers an mance a tad overdone. “Whatever!” become completely wrapped up in Starring Chris Bullough, Kevin Corey, not laughter. unexpected stroke, leaving them as is his all-too-common response for the characters’ reality. and Maralyn Ryan In Choke, Dylan (Kevin Corey) her caretakers. Greg’s irrational and selfish deci- In the end, Cathleen Rootsaert’s Roxy Theatre (10708 124 Street) and Greg (Chris Bullough) are The conflict of emotions created by sions. His arms flail as he marches play is about the duality of life. brothers without too many worries. the situation is brilliantly portrayed around the stage yelling, but his When it seems to being going RYAN KENNY Dylan is an uneducated and unem- through Corey’s performance as Dylan. anger is unconvincing at times. As a great, there’s always a new chal- Arts & Entertainment Writer ployed 20-something still living The character is complex: immature whole however, the cast effectively lenge ahead to knock you down at home, dreaming of becoming yet caring, lazy yet passionate. brings the play to life. a notch, and when you’ve been The first light of the evening is a an astrologist but too comfort- Verbalized emails to his online One unique aspect of the pro- knocked down as low as you can lighter sparking up a joint. The able smoking up and playing Xbox girlfriend, Mei Lee, reveal his most duction that immersed the audi- go, there’s always room for a laugh main lights come up, and a lanky, while his mom takes care of every- personal feelings. It’s an original ence in the action was the use of or two. dorky man with a goatee is in the thing else. Greg is a perpetually convention that’s true to the charac- scents. Whenever the guys lit up, While it could have been tight- midst of his best impersonation of engaged 15-year Superstore veteran ter, more so than a series of mono- the potent smell of weed filled the ened up a bit (the show runs for a sexy female dancer. The house who spends just as much time at logues would have been. The role is room. When they quickly tried to two and a half hours), Choke is a erupts and stays laughing for the his mother’s house as he does at his a challenging one, but Corey nails cover the smell up with incense bittersweet play that anyone can next ten minutes. If the play goes own. it, and truly connects his character before their mom got home, this relate to and everyone can enjoy. The Locust an unsettling swarm The San Diego quartet have strange ideas to match their twisted punk music one-minute mark in length. It’s full of seems to be the outcome, judging by musicpreview split-second starts and stops, and the the joyous and complete incoherency band usually performs in strange, tight- of the band’s responses. The Locust fitting costumes. When proded about But then again, they’ve never been With Despised Icon and Child Abuse their performance getups, Serbian gives known for elaborating clearly on the Tuesday, 6 November at 8pm another strange answer. points they make. The Locust’s chief Avenue Skatepark screamer, Justin Pearson, once said, “I just want to destroy music in gen- CHARLIE CRITTENDEN “To destroy what you eral,” and Serbian is happy to share Arts & Entertainment Writer his own thoughts of the matter. create, you must line “To destroy what you create, you The Locust are weird. Like, really weird. every thought with a must line every thought with a cal- Their music punishes your cochlea, calculated amount of culated amount of delicious poison and ditches in the morning without for the tiny forms of life that swarm even leaving a note. It’s destructively delicious poison for the around your body,” he says. “A sand- appealing if you’re in a sweaty, thrashy tiny forms of life that wich artist creates a masterpiece, and kind of mood. Otherwise, it just hurts. you fuck it with your mouth—or your Any attempted label—beyond “fuck- swarm around your keyboard in this case.” ing loud”—wouldn’t stick to their body.” Despite this illicit sandwich activ- skin-tight nylon suits, and would ity, Serbian doesn’t seem to be all likely fall off in sheer fright. That said, Gabe Serbian that angry. Although things don’t drummer Gabe Serbian seems tired of The LoCust DRummeR always go his way—according to being written off as useless noise. Serbian, the band only named their “The reaction I get is sort of [a] rash latest album New Erections because that grows downwards from the inside “We wear our uniforms so that we they lost a bet—he’s got his band’s center of my throat to my sternum,” he can achieve complete control and focus place in the music industry pegged. explained via email. “Then, the itchy through a process which is similar to “[We’re] Sky Dancers, my friend. rash symptom starts to tickle my heart photosynthesis,” he says. “[The suits] Sky Dancers.” with a great overwhelming sensation also maintain and regulate our tem- Any unsightliness is hidden by their that often leaves me tired and bored.” perature—although the power cells sensual attire, so your eyes shouldn’t The band, originally from San Diego, have been malfunctioning lately.” be too offended if see them live— describes itself as experimental punk: Photosynthesis might be going on but you might want to bring some many of their songs barely break the with the band, but a vegetative state band-aids for your ears..