Review: (Vancouver / Theatre) Dreary and Izzy

Dakota Hebert, Roseanna Superneault (photo by Barbara Zimonick)

Compel Me

by David C. Jones

Theatre that tackles issues is challenging to write. You have to go beyond pontificating about the subject matter to score easy points. Writing drama is also hard - one easy way to create drama is to have characters misunderstand what is being said and not ask for clarification. To heighten that drama just have the characters speak in half and/or interrupted sentences. Another easy device to get both issues and drama out is to have a sudden change in behaviour in character and a selective memory about the people they interact with.

Four companies came together to present Tara Beagan’s Dreary and Izzy set in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1975. The story is about two sisters, one is an adopted Aboriginal girl with fetal alcohol syndrome (FASD), the other a good Catholic girl.  There is also a First Nations vacuum cleaner salesman and older friend of the family who is a nurse who is also little bit racist.