Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls

Waterfront Theatre until April 23, 2022
Tickets: tickets.carouseltheatre.ca

Posted April 16, 2022

A recent Facebook post by a well-known guy in the Vancouver theatre community made me smile because it shows something positive is happening. Commenting on his past year in which he celebrated a milestone birthday, he included (significantly near the top of his list) “my son became my daughter” and he named her. It was a very public, very positive celebration of an experience in his family; lucky the young person to have such a supportive dad.

Award-winning writer Dave Deveau tackles the dynamics of this experience within the context of the family in Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, now on stage at the Waterfront Theatre until April 23.

While I understand that at some schools it has become commonplace to see same-sex couples walking hand-in-hand in the halls, there seems to be a stumbling block when it comes to accepting transgender classmates.

From the excellent Educator Resource Guide to the play, transgender is defined as “a person whose gender is different from what is expected based on the sex they were assigned at birth.”

In the play, directed by Jennica Grienke for Carousel Theatre for Young People, it all started when 9-year-old Fiona (Rae Takei) cut her hair and asked henceforth to be called Fin. (Fiona, I learned from the Guide, was Fin’s ‘deadname’, the name prior to coming out as a boy). At first the family – Mom, Dad and older sister Holly – were amused and indulgent – but when it became apparent that Fin was not joking and that he was never again going to be Fiona, shock set in. Dad (played by Matheus Severo) was the first to be accepting but Mom (Valeria Ascolese) was a harder sell. Holly (Ascolese again) was downright horrified.

Fin’s awakening started way back when he was 5 and attending the circus. The tiny ringleader in a suit and top hat was, Fin discovered on closer inspection, “a girl”. Ringleaders were always men, weren’t they? And what about the Bearded Lady? “How can that be a lady; she has a beard”. Gender fluidity was dawning on young Fiona/Fin and it was only a matter of time before “tomboy” Fiona made it clear, she was not a tomboy, she was a boy. He, him, Fin.

From the mother’s perspective, she worried that transgender Fin’s life would be harder. And from Holly, fear of being teased at school. “Now I’ve got a weird family”, she howled.

And, oh, what about bathrooms? The “Boys” or the “Girls”?

Shizuka Kai’s set, with clotheslines criss-crossing the stage, is bright and cheerful as is Victoria Bell’s lighting. But the production suffers from an unfortunate exaggerated acting style; with the exception of Rae Takei (who is excellent and very professional throughout) the rest of the characters are more caricatures than characters. Even Fin’s friend Felix (Severo again) is played kind of goofy. The style might be okay – although I’m not really certain – for 7-year-olds (the lower recommended audience age) but not for 12-year-olds (the upper recommended). I could be wrong but there are some tremendously sophisticated youngsters out there and it’s entirely possible that Deveau’s play doesn’t need the exaggerated approach to appeal to its young audience.

I also found it unfortunate that the imaginary witch (Ascolese once again) that terrifies Fin with all the bad feedback that he can expect, is Fin’s barely disguised teacher. Resources being slim, double and triple casting plays havoc with this script. (Consider the teacher in Joan McLeod’s excellent The Shape of a Girl: when bullied and afraid to go to her parents, the child turns to her former kindergarten teacher for help.)

But Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls is a terrific jumping off place for discussion. I wish I’d had the opportunity to talk to the teachers of the two school groups that attended the same performance I did. What did their students – who behaved so well during the performance – take away from the play? Will the teachers follow up the trip to the Waterfront Theatre with the Educator Resource Guide which, by the way, is the best glossary of terms including SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity), GNC (gender non-conforming) and GAS (gender-affirming surgery). Originally created by Roseneath Theatre (Toronto), this guide goes a long way toward educating adults, not just teachers but all of us who find ourselves lost but willing to understand the transgender world.

If Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls fulfils Carousel Theatre’s vision of “empowering young people to become agents of positive change”, the play will have done its job. Here’s hoping.