When I go to the Factory Theatre courtyard box office to pick up a program for the SummerWorks production of Tough Guy Mountain: a play, I’m directed to a stack of pink and white tri-fold brochures. Designed as an Intern Initiation Manual, the document includes illustrations of all of Tough Guy Mountain’s (aka TGM) key corporate players – executives, assistants and interns – along with brief descriptions. It’s a workplace field guide.
Written and directed by Iain Soder, with music by Rory Maclellan, Tough Guy Mountain: a play is set in the headquarters of “an extra-dimensional corporation that creates and manages premium quality brands.” The futuristic pre-show music serves as a soundtrack, accompanying pre-recorded informational sound bites about the company and being a good intern. The show also incorporates projection with computer animation and live action (especially effective, and hysterically funny, with Holographic Kyle, played by Cale Weir), music numbers and even a dance break or two.
It’s Lisa’s (Jessica Brown) first day as an unpaid intern at TGM and, like Alice through the looking glass, she enters a strange new world of interesting and eccentric corporate entities. And manages to discover a conspiracy against art, finding herself forced to take action to save what’s important to her.
Really nice work from the cast in this fast-paced, crazy look at corporate branding and conspiracy. Brown shines as the wide-eyed, eager and ambitious Lisa, a plucky young intern who is clearly nobody’s fool. Other stand-outs include Elizabeth Johnston as the hilarious sharp-tongued dragon lady Queenie Empress; Jonathan Carroll as the neurotic and impulsive exec Joan Popular; and writer/director Soder’s slick, arrogant Ivan Phone. And big LOLs from William James Kasurak as the driven, robot-like Intern Phil; Sam Roberts as the obsessively committed Intern Stan; and Cat Bluemke as Beige Cathy, the perfectly efficient, deadpan executive assistant with a glare so withering, she doesn’t need to say a word. Shouts to Inez Genereux (TGM’s fashionable, artsy client) and Atleigh Homma (the precocious and sassy Holographic Lisa).
And shouts to graphic designer Bluemke for the most innovative program design I’ve seen.
It’s big satirical fun with corporate branding and conspiracy in Tough Guy Mountain: a play.
Tough Guy Mountain: a play continues at the Factory Theatre Studio until Aug 16 – check here for their scheduling.
life with more cowbell 