Follies: ‘NPA-bashing at its best’

Question: when can one find So-
Creds on the stage at rallies for pro-
Bressive civic candidates?

Answer: this fall, when the
Committee of Progressive Electors
and the Association of Coquitlam
Electors roast the likes of Bill Van-
der Zalm, right-wing Vancouver
alderman George Puil and other
Purveyors of megaprojects at their
Tespective election rallies in mid-
October.

“Tt’ll be NPA-bashing at its
best,” said Steve Hill of the Ash
Street Players, whose production,
Civic Follies, will provide political
theatre for those who turn out to
Support the labor-backed candi-

tes in Vancouver’s Queen Eliza-
beth Playhouse Sunday, Oct. 17.

A similar production — some
Rhames will be changed, but the ba-
SIC issues will be the same — is slat-
€d for ACE the preceding Friday at
the Knights of Columbus Hall in
Coquitlam’s Laval Square.

The production is the latest ef-
fort by the Ash Street Players, a
ancouver company which has au-
thored plays on topical themes
from their home base at the Peretz
School over the last two years.
ne in cabaret form, these pro-
ductions have played to packed
houses.

Patrons have been treated to
Sketches interspersed with songs or
Musical accompaniment that pre-
Sented the issues of the day in fic-
Uonalized, or perhaps more accur-
ately, symbolized form.

But when Civic Follies hits the
Stage in two weeks, audiences will
be introduced to real-life candi-
dates, along with characterizations
Of right-wing establishment fig-
ures, presented in their true Socred
Spirit.

Ash Street Players (I to r) Steve Hill, Peter Greenwell, Helen Douglas and Tracy Lioyd during rehear-

sals for upcoming Civic Follies.

They’ll see education minister
Vander Zalm win a spelling con-
test; Puil will ‘‘win’’ a debate with a
noted COPE candidate, with a lit-
tle help from the media; and the
“news’’ will carry a report about a
visit to Japan by Vancouver’s War-
nett Kennedy.

This novel approach to political
rallying is the brain child of three of
the company — Steve Hill, Helen
Douglas and Tracy Lloyd — who
along with Richmond civic activist
Margaret Pawluk conceived the

‘idea following a request from

COPE last June.

With Peter Greenwell, Hill,
Douglas and Lloyd have been im-
mersed in rehearsals since Septem-
ber. Musicians Tom Hawken,

Charlotte Diamond and Doug
Stewart will provide the songs for
the Vancouver production, while
Surrey civic activist and musician
Steve Gidora will contribute to the
Coquitlam presentation.

Combining a theatrical presen-
tation with a political rally is the
perfect way for civic progressives to
get their message across to Vancou-
ver voters, according to COPE
president Jim Quail.

‘‘What the Socreds and their
NPA farm team are doing to Van-
couver is serious, but there’s some-
thing about their actions that
speaks to one’s sense of the
absurd,”’ he said.

When Vander Zalm, as munici-
pal affairs minister, railroaded the

costly ALRT through the objec-
tions of everyone who knew a con-
ventional system was far cheaper
— while his government and its
civic allies were forever preaching
fiscal restraint, he provided grist
for the comedic mill, according to
Quail.

‘‘When Warnett Kennedy
rushes to the barricades with a
book warning Vancouver citizens
they’ll lose their city if they take
control and kick out the right-wing
and their big-money backers, he’s
giving us all a good laugh,”’ said the
COPE president.

‘And laughter can be just the
tonic for the NPA blues, encourag-
ing people to work towards their
defeat at the polls this fall.’’

—Dan Keeton

TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEETON

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