Game On (Life as Sport)
by Jim Murchison
Rider Girl is a play that works as a play and a pep rally all the while drawing analogies to the game of life. I can only imagine how it plays in Saskatchewan. Don’t get me wrong, the Ottawa audience was thoroughly entertained by creator/performer Colleen Sutton but a rabid CFL fan that had never seen a play in their life would be equally drawn to this piece that succeeds on two levels.
Sutton’s infectious enthusiasm pulls the audience in to the game, but it is the parallel that she draws to life’s four quarters and the flags that fall on the field of life because of financial and emotional pitfalls, that will cast the spell on the avid theatre goer. It is incredible how people get so ecstatic or crestfallen over the triumphs and disasters of their team and yet play tight defence on their personal problems when they should be calling on help from the team.
