SEATTLE — “Girls are gross.”
“Boys are stinky.”
If there is a child in your life, chances are, you’ve heard remarks like these, as well as other put-downs about race, creed and body type. How do parents, teachers and other adults teach children to accept and embrace our many differences?
Seattle Children’s Theatre has a tool to help. The season opener, “Bluenose,” by Canadian playwright Emil Sher, explores such themes as acceptance, diversity and self-esteem, offering a platform for intergenerational discussion. But the play is hardly a moral treatise. Showing rather than telling, last weekend’s hour-long premiere took the audience on board a pirate ship. There they watched a play laden with humor and punctuated with polished singing and dancing, juggling and sword fighting. Time and time again the action was interrupted by giggles and guffaws. The play is aptly recommended for ages 6 and older.
Acting was first rate — the four cast members threw themselves into their roles with energy and panache. Tim Hyland was amazing as red-nosed Captain Ratt, the swaggering buffoon whose comic antics could hardly qualify him for the stereotypical pirate villain. Making his entrance onto the stage, Hyland’s clown costume and wig caught the eyes of all. Minutes later, he barked, “Argh,” and contorted his face, only to break up the audience in laughter.
The hilarity continued with singing, dancing and joking. Hyland also did some juggling. He and his fellow cast members admit to watching lots of “Looney Tunes” beforehand, taking their cues from the likes of Yosemite Sam, to get into the silliness of their respective roles.
The play begins on the ship “Sharp de Triomphe,” where Captain Ratt rules the roost and barks the orders to the crewmembers. Emily Chisholm is wonderful as Spatt the lackey, a man who can’t seem to think original thoughts to save his soul. Knatt the bookworm says “yes” but means “no.” He questions authority in a quiet way, wanting to leave the pirate lifestyle but not knowing how. The ship is bound for the island of Pakamula, where the pirates plan to steal feathers from the whiffle bird. These feathers will bring them a fortune back home.
The red-nosed pirates accidentally stumble across a blue-nosed girl named Ku fishing in the water around their boat. Sparks fly when they see her blue nose. Ku argues that her nose isn’t worse than theirs. It’s just different. Unfortunately, her words don’t penetrate their thick skulls. So she tries another tactic. She plays beautiful music for them and later helps cure the Captain’s sword-inflicted wound with some special salve.
Ku’s deeds give her a platform on which to speak. And speak she does. On a number of occasions, Ku challenges the pirates’ practice of stealing and plundering instead of giving. And when Ku’s instincts tell her a storm is coming, she warns her fellow shipmates. By the time the ship lands on an island called Pymm, everyone has changed, even Ku, who has discovered she has her own struggles with intolerance.
Besides the seasoned actors who made playwright Sher’s words come alive, others can take a bow in making this production an excellent season kickoff for the theater. Allison Narver deserves high marks for directing the show. So do choreographer Kathryn Van Meter and music director Mark Rabe. Carey Wong’s set is ship shape, and Scott Gray’s costumes are in keeping with the comic tone.
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