Booger Red
Created by Jim Loucks
Produced by Jim Loucks
50m
Content notes: Rated G
The purpose of teenagers is to drive parents crazy. Whereas the purpose of parents is to drive teenagers crazy. Otherwise, no one would leave home.
And that’s where Jim Loucks begins, weaving the stories of two teenagers growing up.
First, is how a young boy (nicknamed Booger Red) survived and escaped his physically abusive stepfather. Red’s grandmother eventually takes over and introduces Red to her Southern Baptist church. There, Red’s powerful singing voice leads him to find his calling as a preacher.
Eventually, Red gets married and has a son named… Jimmy Loucks.
Booger Red determines to avoid the physical abuse his stepfather inflicted on him. Instead, he intends to raise young Jimmy with Christian instruction.
But as father and son often do, the two clash, their arguments epic.
Again, a generation apart, a teenager rebels and leaves home. Which leads to Loucks’ second story: his own journey in the world.
Loucks weaves the two stories, alternating between Red’s booming preacher voice, Loucks’ own musical theatre baritone, and Loucks’ narrator voice. This structure emphasizes the parallels between how father and son find their ways in the world. They share much in common, including a stubborn independence that exacerbates the rift between them.
Loucks works hard to differentiate these voices and characters. With posture, tone, context, vocabulary, singing genre, and bearing, Loucks can usually distinguish young Jimmy from Preacher Red and then from narrator Loucks.
But there were times when this Canadian tin ear had trouble distinguishing the three Southern accents. Sometimes I had to work hard to keep track. Who’s who? Another audience member had the same difficulty.
If you’ve been at serious loggerheads with your father from your teenage years, you may see parallels with your own life. Loucks shares insights about things he never got to say. Those insights may shape yours.
Booger Red is playing at Studio 1201 until June 25, 2023. Visit ottawafringe.com/fringe/ for the schedule and box office info. Read more reviews at https://apt613.ca/category/festival/fringe/.
.gif)
