Banana Boys

Saw Banana Boys on Saturday. Jenn and I went to see the show at the Firehall Theatre for the Matinee. Our friend Vince, and Rick, were both in the show so we were excited to see it. I knew going in that the show revolves around 5 men of Chinese decent, and their friendship in Canada. In case you don't get the banana boys reference it means yellow on the outside and white on the inside. I thought the show was well writen, but it had a few flaws. First of all I thought both Vince and Rick were great. Not just because they are friends of mine, but they were truly good. The same can be said for 2 of the other friends: The writer, and the friend who can't stop calling his girlfriend. The long and the short of it is, the character who is supposed to be the "lead" was a let down. The role could have been played so much better. I feel that at the end of the show, where we as an audience are supposed to be invested emotionally, we just weren't at the state of caring for him at all. The role is played up to be a very important point of the plot and helps change the other characters at the end. It just didn't happen. Please, Please... if you want to convince an audience that the character is a tough, driven business man that would do anything to succeed including taking so many uppers that he might die. PLEASE cast an actor that can play straight. I do not believe a man with a lisp, talking about having sex with multiple women. I can not suspend my disbelief enough to buy it. We live in Vancouver, and it's 2007, we know that gay people exist. As and audience member I can no longer think that he just has "feminine" qualities. We have broken down those Taboos, where we just don't talk about "it" anymore. It's not 1945 mid west America. I want to congratulate all the other actors in the show for their performances. There was some great acting moments. I wish they had shortened that show a bit though, too much manufactured anger at the end. I'm sad to say the show closed Saturday evening so people can't see it anymore. I am glad that the Firehall is putting on good Canadian content that isn't just about the prairies, and "Canadian" dialogue.