This year's Pick of the Vancouver Fringe is coming your way, Comox Valley.
The Progressive Polygamists are making their way to that Denman Island Community Hall on Nov. 24 and then over to the Stan Hagen Theatre at North Island College in Courtenay on Nov. 25 and 26.
Longtime resident Emmelia (known in the Valley as Emma) Gordon, a graduate of Studio 58, and co-creator Pippa Mackie, a graduate of the National Theatre School, have crafted with their company, Two Wrongs that Write, a world-winning comedy explaining the culture of polygamy.
Taking the inspiration from real events in Bountiful, B.C., we are presented with Eden Grace Parker (Gordon) and Mercy Eve Parker (Mackie), two sister-wives (or Wivez as the button says) from Plentiful out touring B.C. to defend their faith, their commune/compound…er, community from recent attacks.
Let there be no doubt though, that this show is a full-throttle, interactive, intensely sweet comedy, that has been stylistically compared to the work of Daniel MacIvor and the best of SNL’s female comedians.
While touring the show to Fringes across the country, Toronto, Saskatoon and Vancouver, they received rave reviews at every stop. Winning the Pick of the Fringe in Vancouver was a sweet treat for these hard-working actors and creators of this very smart show.
“Controversial subjects in theatre are easy to beat to death or treat with sanctimony. Avoiding these pitfalls easily, The Progressive Polygamists is pitch perfect” writes Catherine Francis of Saskatoon’s Planet S Magazine. "How can something so unfunny be so funny? Not only is the sardonic writing a relevant comic triumph, but Mackie and Gordon are a powerful pair."
"This meticulously rehearsed show relies heavily on the perfect synchronicity of the sister wives reciting their cultish rhetoric with matching hand movements, and impeccable comic timing as their sidelong glances expose the jealousy and lust they try so hard to deny. Gordon and Mackie are killer at all of it...See this show immediately," adds Janet French of the Star Phoenix.
“Their wit and talent shines through in every joke and song...Be careful though you might just leave a polygamist,” adds a Toronto blog.
Music, cookies, and audience participation/coercion by two masters of the lightning ad lib all await those who wish to take the trip to Plentiful.
Tickets available in Courtenay at the Laughing Oyster Bookstore, in Comox at Blue Heron and Video N More, on Denman Island at Abraxas Books.
For more information, call Vicki at 250-338-7789 or check out www.progressive-polygamists.ca.
— Progressive Polygamists