Ode to hockey exudes love for the game
Few actors seem to relish a role like Sean Hoy in Life After Hockey.
He takes the tall tale of “Rink Rat Brown” and makes it his own, convincingly conveying the character’s deep love of hockey and its indelible influence on Canadian culture.
Hoy’s depictions of scores of characters in the one-hander are vivid, from the main character who we see as a child sneaking out of the house before dawn with his skates and stick (as unsteady as Bambi on the ice), to a realistic, rough-hewed small towner boasting about the Sutter boys in Viking, Alberta, to the fluid, God-like moves of the great Guy Lafleur.
Even if you’re not quite as enamoured with the game, Hoy’s passion draws you in. It helps that playwright Ken Brown plants the seed of a highly unlikely twist on history early on: that Rink Rat Brown, not Mike Bossy, scored the winning goal in the 1984 Canada Cup semifinal against the steel-jawed USSR.
You’ve got to keep watching to find out what happens.
It’s a solo show but one with huge assists by director Angus Ferguson who makes it a very physical, lively matchup. He also handled the set, an authentic scale-model of an outdoor rink. You can almost see your breath when you enter the theatre.
And there there’s Gilles Zolty who provides live music and sounds that are almost subliminal at times.
The net effect is winning combination of sport and art.