WOULD YOU SAY THE NAME OF THIS PLAY? (NGGRFG) written and performed by Berend McKenzie, directed by Allen MacInnis and Tanisha Taitt (Young People’s Theatre, 165 Front East). To December 3, see youngpeoplestheatre.ca for schedule. $15-$20. 416-862-2222. See listing. Rating: NNN
Berend McKenzie didn’t have the easiest of childhoods.
Growing up black and gay in small-town Alberta, McKenzie had both happy and less cheerful moments that he shares in the autobiographical Would You Say The Name Of This Play? (nggrfg), a show aimed at teens and their parents.
Moving back and forth through episodes in his life, McKenzie is winning as Buddy, the writer/performer’s alter-ego. Whether becoming the 16-year-old with a crush on a Mohawk-haired, black-eyelinered young woman in his high school (she’d be a safe, protective girlfriend, he thinks) or the 21-year-old auditioning for the role of a ghetto rapper (he’s just not gangsta enough for the part), McKenzie uses physical and verbal details to fill out Buddy’s character.
There are sober sections, too. After Buddy’s drunken attempt at sex during a class party, his best friend won’t stand up for him and warns him against even setting foot in school again. A doctor tells Buddy’s parents that he’s still bed-wetting at eight because he’s inherently too lazy to do anything about it.
Despite the acceptance of his adoptive family, Buddy grows up with a load of anxiety and guilt. Even connecting with his birth parents is problematic, leading to two of the play’s most moving scenes. In his 30s, he’s excited to speak to his father on the phone, even more so when he discovers that his father’s an actor just like Buddy things sour, though, when Buddy mentions he’s gay.
Directed by Allen MacInnis and Tanisha Taitt, Would You Say is a richly human piece about what it means to be seen as different when growing up. But Buddy – and, clearly, McKenzie – isn’t ultimately defeated by the labels others use to define him. In the final episode, in which the seven-year-old Buddy falls in love with a tassel-handled skipping rope, he learns to stand up against those who insult him and proudly accept himself for who he is.
In these days of school bullying and teen suicide, the play is a great start for a family discussion about how words can hurt and how they can be reclaimed.
