TAGGED by Dave Deveau (Green Thumb Theatre/Young Peoples Theatre, 165 Front East). Runs to May 8 see website for performances. $19-$24. 416-862-2222, youngpeoplestheatre.ca. Rating: NNN
How far do peer pressure and the allure of online popularity push high schoolers to ignore the feelings of their classmates?
Dave Deveaus tagged uses a he said-she said format to explore the events at a party in which Sam, a young drunk woman, is photographed after she passed out, lipstick smeared across her face and the word slut written on her forehead.
Who did it, and why?
Deveau cleverly intercuts a pair of interviews in which a police constable (Gili Roskies) interrogates two of Sams classmates. The stylish Jerri (Agnes Tong), a queen bee and party girl, has no trouble threatening the constable with the fact that her father is a ranking policeman. Nerdy Webber (Scott Button) posts videos on his own website (World Wide Webber, what else?) to prove that hes part of the schools social scene.
As the constable plays them off against each other the interviews are in separate rooms we learn that Sam was Jerris friend until she started going out with Jerris ex, and that Webber has a crush on Sam. He went so far as to take a selfie with Sams name written on his chest the image went viral, anonymously, and Webbers been ridiculed for it.
Craig Alfredsons set and video sometimes the latter is restricted to a screen in each room, sometimes its projected across the entire stage allow the action to move smoothly from one confrontation to the next, the script constantly shining a different light on the teens memories and testimonies.
Under Leslie Joness direction (based on Patrick McDonalds original production), Button captures Webbers desire to be a member of the in-group, his moods shifting from insecurity to bravado and back again. Roskies, though, doesnt fill out the policewoman sufficiently. In setting Jerri and Webber against each other, shes asked to be, alternately, good cop and bad cop, but she exudes little sense of authority.
Best of all is Tongs Jerri, tight-lipped at the start, sure shell be vindicated until cracks start to show in her veneer. By the end, we get a sense that shes both hurt and jealous of Sam, but enough to have shot and posted the image of the drunken teen?
Deveau, a former Torontonian now based in Vancouver and running gay troupe Zee Zee Theatre with his partner, Cameron Mackenzie, lays out the pieces of this dramatic jigsaw puzzle enticingly, but he rightly doesnt supply all the answers or offer what ultimately happens to Webber and Jerri.
Instead, were left with questions. Is fame on the internet, even due to a questionable posting, worth having? As the constable says, everyones brave online, since people can hide behind fake identities. Does that mask of anonymity allow people to ignore the feelings of others?
When the lights come up, theres lots to think about and discuss.
