THE VEXED AND THE VIGOROUS
Created by Patrice Forbes
Produced by Dead Unicorn Ink, Ottawa
Reviewed by Brian Carroll
58 min / PG / Play, Comedy, Drama, High Octane Action Thriller
Fast and Furious meets Romeo and Juliet.
Rom (Romeo, get it?) is driving away from Verona, mourning the loss of his beloved Rosa (Rosalind). His mechanic, Li’l Mickey (Mercutio) calls him. There’s a new rival gang of racers (the LaValles) on the streets of Verona.
Police Captain Prince (of Verona) is threatening to shut down Father L’s (Friar Lawrence) Holy Land Racetrack because of illegal street racing. Father L is trying to keep the peace with a race between the rivals, winner takes all.
Mickey offers Rom a new ride: a hopped up Corvette Stingray coupe.
Rom agrees to come back to Verona, because “it’s family.” But he doesn’t agree to race.
LaValle heads the rival gang. Her two lead drivers, male Jules (Juliette) and female Tay (Tybalt) have a platonic relationship. Jules sees them as racing team-mates. He wants to keep it that way. Tay, a hot racer from Montréal, has other ideas.
The clever rhyming couplet script alone — filled with street racing terminology — is reason enough to see this show. Bilingual audience members will get a kick from Tay expressing her feelings for Jules en français and in English.
Production values are typical Dead Unicorn Ink: cheap but evocative. Costumes are tank tops, t-shirts, jeans and tight Spandex. The Corvette is the biggest Fisher-Price car I’ve ever seen, with dodgy parts that fall off at appropriate times.
The choreography of the race scenes is gorgeous. Primary colour steering wheels and costumes are visually striking. Multi-gendered racers go bumper-to-bumper on the track. I’ll call it auto-erotic.
Don’t let playwright Forbes’ little daughter fool you when she fliers you to see this play. With all the F-bombs in the script, this is definitely parental guidance.
Get your tickets early. This baby will sell out.
The Vexed and the Vigorous is playing at Arts Court Theatre from June 13–22. Tickets are $14 plus service fees at the Fringe box office (3rd floor, Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue), and at the two satellite box offices (LabO in the Ottawa Art Gallery and La Nouvelle Scene). 5 and 10 Show Passes are also available. Visit the Ottawa Fringe Festival’s website for the show’s schedule and check out their online schedule here.
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