The job from hell
Morris Panych unveils new play Dishwashers Concentrates on accepting one’s lot in life THEATRE
When Morris Panych wanted a job that would summon up what it would be like to be in one of the inner circles of hell, he turned to what is laughingly known as the hospitality industry. The result is on display in his latest work, The Dishwashers, currently in previews at the Tarragon Theatre prior to an opening Tuesday.
“ I was never actually a dishwasher myself,” admits Panych on a break from rehearsals, “ but the most horrible time I ever spent was as a busboy at an Italian restaurant in Edmonton.
“ I was treated like real garbage by the waiters and the owner kept insisting I kiss all the ladies’ hands, which I just couldn’t do. There was also this complete dork who tried to give me advice on how to dress and act.” Panych snorts.
“ Believe me, he was the last person to be offering suggestions. I got my revenge on him by putting him in the play.”
Although with the kind of doubleedged comment this playwright has built his career on, he concludes that, “ I can’t say it was all that humiliating, because I didn’t have my vision for life formed at that point yet.” Panych admits the show’s larger point is “ that we all struggle with the terror of winding up in places like that. We can’t apply the Zen theories of nothingness to our own lives, because we have material needs which circumvent our abilities. Ask Panych what led him to this examination and he points back to our society. “ I was interested in the idea of undeserved entitlement to everything the world has to offer. It’s kind of an American idea that has seeped into the Canadian psyche as well. “You know what I mean, a bunch of people standing around saying, ‘We ought to have everything.’ You see it on American Idol, all these incredibly untalented people thinking that they deserve to be discovered.” He sighs. “ Not everybody in this life is destined to achieve everything. Hell, some people aren’t destined to achieve anything. This play is about understanding your place in the whole scheme of things and either accepting it, which makes you happy, or rejecting it, which drives you crazy.”
It looks like Panych’s current place in the scheme of things is to be providing a series of almost non-stop productions across Canada.
His work so far this year has included the Vancouver premiere of The Dishwashers, Take Me Out at CanStage, You Never Can Tell at the Shaw Festival, The Overcoat at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and Habeas Corpus again at CanStage. And it’s not like he’s exactly about to start resting. Next up is a new version of Gogol’s The Government Inspector
for Soulpepper
“ That one seemed like a natural fit to me,” he chuckles. “ I love Gogol because he’s so fearless. He was kind of like the Mel Brooks of his time. He wrote deep stuff but he wasn’t afraid of being crazy or absurd.” Panych will not be updating the play to another era, but prefers to describe his approach as “ The Marx Brothers in Russia.”
After that, it’s off to Vancouver to direct Waiting for Godot at the Arts Club, a Tarragon revival of his earlier hit, Earshot, and then back to the Shaw Festival, where he’ll be staging Noel Coward’s Design for Living in the miniature confines of the Royal George Theatre.
“ A ménage a trois should always happen in a tight space,” says Panych wickedly.
After that, “ I’d like to take a year off and concentrate on my writing.” He’s unwilling to reveal too much about his next script except to say that “ it’s a history play about railway land surveyors in the 1880s.” And there won’t be a dishwasher in sight. Just the facts What: The Dishwashers by Morris Panych Where: Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Avenue When: Previews through Sunday. Opening Nov.l5, runs through Dec.18. Tickets: $17-34 416-531-1827