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Mike Lew’s 2018 comedy Teenage Dick is a wildly irreverent reimagining of Shakespeare’s Richard III and Alberta Theatre Tasks’ model, and it runs the gamut from hilarious to sweetly touching.
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Set in a recent highschool, it tells the story of Richard Gloucester (Dylan Thomas-Bouchier) a 16-year-old pupil with cerebral palsy who will cease at nothing to turn into the category president for his closing yr in highschool. The honour presently belongs to Eddie Ivy (Todd Houseman), the varsity’s star quarterback who thinks retaining the title is as simple as scoring a landing. Overachiever Clarissa Duke (Emily Howard) additionally has her eye on the crown, so Richard, or Dick as Eddie has nicknamed him, has to seek out methods to eradicate each rivals.
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As is the case with Shakespeare’s grasp villain, Lew’s Richard talks on to the viewers, sharing with them his plans, and revelling in his evil. He’s a nasty piece of labor and Thomas-Bouchier performs him with mounting gusto and with out a second of apology. It’s a deliciously well-crafted, confidently preening efficiency.
Richard believes his strongest ally at Roseland Excessive Faculty is Buck Buckingham (Riki Entz) as a result of she can also be disabled and in a wheelchair. Paradoxically, Buck is the one one that sees Richard for who he actually is and isn’t as simply manipulated because the others he encounters. Entz laces all of Buck’s observations and retorts with acidic sarcasm. Nobody messes with or intimidates this firebrand both as a personality or an actor.
Simply manipulated is English and drama trainer Elizabeth York (Anna Cummer) who simply occurs to be Richard’s cousin. York thinks she’s tremendous cool however she is the actual nerd on this play irrespective of how a lot she bellows and postures. Cummer is aware of she’s working with a stereotype and is aware of simply how far to push York for max comedian impact.
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Likewise, Howard understands Clarissa and that her delusion of being a non secular zealot makes her superior to her classmates is ripe for mocking and gleefully does the honours.
Eddie is a bully however that’s only a facade and what’s anticipated of the varsity’s tremendous jock as Houseman reveals close to the tip of the play when he superbly reveals Eddie’s true nature.
Richard’s plan to destroy Eddie entails Anne Margaret (Isabella Pedersen), Eddie’s former girlfriend, an aspiring dancer. Watching Richard manipulate Anne into inviting him to the Sadie Hawkins Day dance after which educating him to bounce is humorous till each Richard and Anne start to have real emotions for one another after which it goes from winsome to heartbreaking as a result of Thomas-Bouchier and Pedersen obtain moments of real sensitivity of their Romeo & Juliet situation. Their dance within the faculty fitness center choreographed by Tania Alvarado is a well-earned spotlight of the manufacturing.
Teenage Dick is to the stage what Clueless and Election had been to movie. It’s a intelligent, insightful take a look at highschool politics as good as it’s perceptive. What makes ATP’s Teenage Dick so entertaining is that it’s unapologetically theatrical. It’s crass, even foolish, sentimental and manipulative when it must be. It says a fantastic deal about dwelling with a incapacity however that’s secondary to its goal to entertain. It achieves all this in slightly below two hours with no intermission, taking the viewers without warning so many instances with its abrupt shifts in tone, its usually racy language and its refusal to be politically appropriate.
Teenage Dick is definitely the crowning achievement of ATP’s present season.
Beneath the exuberant route of Jenna Rodgers, Teenage Dick runs till April 30.