A provoking but ‘winsome’ story
Stephen Waldschmidt’s goal was to break down the barriers between the audience and the actors. So, as artistic director, he set his company’s play in a living room.
As Saskatoon’s Burnt Thicket Theatre tours its one-man show My Little Plastic Jesus — to Regina, Rosebud, Alta., Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton — actor Tim Bratton will get up close and personal with his audience.
“As a performer I’m usually on much larger stages,” said Bratton. But theatre is always intimate, and “that intimacy is kind of shrunk and brought in even more in this case, where I am looking people in the eye all the time with this show.”
Performing in Alberta will be extra personal: “I grew up in Edmonton and spent time in Calgary,” said Bratton, whose play is autobiographical, about his upbringing and its impact.
“I grew up within a pretty ... conservative evangelical home in Alberta. And there is lots of good from that … but I’m largely taking a critical look at parts of my childhood and growing up that have to do with this much broader world.
“I’m not talking about Christianity
on the whole; I’m not even talking about evangelical churches or any particular church tradition, but the entity of evangelical pop culture that has emerged in the 20th century,” added Bratton — contemporary Christian music and ‘honk if you love Jesus’ bumper stickers, for example.
He mixes serious content with funny moments, designed to open a dialogue.
Waldschmidt said a Christian background isn’t necessary to understand or relate to Bratton’s content.
“There’s enough in the show that is translatable to any particular subculture that somebody grows up in,” said Waldschmidt, “whether it’s their own family or the place they grew up or ethnic, cultural background, or maybe their parents’ political ideas or a different faith tradition.”
It asks the questions, “how do we make sense of ourselves as an adult, and how do we understand the culture that we grew up in, and what do we do with aspects of it that are maybe difficult for us now?” added Waldschmidt.
He said Bratton crafted his story “in a way that will provoke everyone, but will do so in a winsome, hospitable way.”
The script, coupled with the living room venue, Waldschmidt hopes “will encourage people to listen and consider one another in the room and maybe let down some of the bars that we tend to put up around topics like religion and politics in our polarized society.” My Little Plastic Jesus performs March 5 and 6 in Saskatoon and March 7 in Regina, before heading to Alberta. Tickets — and venue addresses — are available at mylittleplasticjesus.com.