Cover, a contemporary dark comedy by Gibsons playwright David King, premieres today (Oct. 3) at the Presentation House Theatre in North Vancouver, performed by Sea Theatre. It explores the relationships of three people: an ex-junkie, a convicted killer and a roommate of unclear motives, who meet in a kitchen during a storm, with tempestuous results.
"This play is very much an unfolding event that could very easily get out of control," King said. "Writing it was all about imagining it so precisely, so incrementally, to engender a sense of going for a ride."
The characters are drawn from the imagination. As King hastens to point out, he has not been an ex-junkie or a killer.
This is not the first play for King, who has been fortunate enough, he said, to make a fairly decent living between his writing and performing during the past 30 years. He has lived in Gibsons for three years and doesn't mind the commute to Vancouver.
"I mean, half of it is a cruise," he said, tongue in cheek. His sense of humour is low key, evident in the dark side of Cover and in his previous plays.
"My last play in Vancouver was Up Island at the Arts Club Stanley stage. That was tremendous fun, working with so many good friends. My dog was even in it," King recalled.
The premise is funny and vengeful. After Lorraine kicks her cantankerous husband out, she decides to host a party, to which she invites everyone she has ever heard him speak ill of. The play earned great audience response with some returning two or three times to see it again. King hopes that it will be remounted elsewhere.
"I've had other plays performed at The Arts Club: Joey Shine, Maniac Bride, but probably the one that gets done the most is Garage Sale, which was originally produced in 1983 by Tamahnous Theatre," he said.
In order to shake his family out of their apparent complacency, a character holds a zany weekend garage sale, which ultimately brings the family together. The play won best original play for King in the first annual Jessie Awards, while two of its actors, Susan Astley and the renowned performer playwright Morris Panych, were nominated for best actress and actor in a leading role respectively.
"I'd call them human comedies," King adds.
Another autobiographical play, Once, incorporates King's aptitude for setting the spoken word to music; in it, he accompanies his own storytelling with percussion.
The theatre troupe, Sea Theatre, that will mount the play in North Vancouver emphasize provocative writing that is innovative and highly intelligent from a wide repertoire, particularly Canadians like King. The playwright does not think this new play would be appropriate for a community-based company here on the Coast."It's pretty rude," he warned.
Cover runs Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. until Oct. 18 at Presentation House (333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver). The cast is David Petersen, Kim Kondrashoff and Cherise Clarke with Bill Devine directing. Tickets are $15 and $20 except for two-for-one Tuesdays on Oct. 7 and 14. Call 1-604-990-3474 or see www.phtheatre.org.
