It’s written in Wikipedia, so it must be true, that 17 out of Canada’s 22 prime ministers are acknowledged to have fathered children.
Reliable source or not, most of us have no idea what goes on behind closed doors at 24 Sussex Drive, especially with the spawn of the PM, well except for the one who has gone on to become Liberal leader in recent years.
Vernon playwright Michael Poirier is about to change all that.
He and his Backstage Theatre are giving us a peek inside the lives of a prime minister and his family, albeit a fictional one, with his new play State of Confusion.
“It’s a comedy based on a prime minister of Canada, but it’s coincidental that this PM is from Calgary, likes the Flames, and his first name is Steven (spelled without the ph like a certain other PM),” said Poirier.
Despite this being a comedy, there are social and real-people issues in the play that most people will be able to relate to – even a certain prime minister.
Like in similar-based stories such as film The American President, where Michael Douglas played the “leader of the free world,” Poirier gives insight into the prime minister’s private life – the good, the bad, and the funny.
It’s also not a coincidence that it’s an election year for the federal government, said Poirier on the timeliness of his play.
“If you can’t laugh at your prime minister, then who can you laugh at… I thought of our current prime minister and how he’d react. I see this guy as a regular guy, but when he’s in office he puts a mask on and he’s all business,” said Poirier. “I tear the mask off a little and he has to step out of his PM facade and be a dad.”
State of Confusion follows 17-year-old Elizabeth Cauldwell, the slightly rebellious daughter of the newly elected Prime Minister Steven Cauldwell, who causes sparks to fly and family tension when she meets a boy named Matthew Cave at a hockey game.
Elizabeth wants to grow up, but her dad won’t let her. He gives her a nanny, a tutor and a chauffeur, all he thinks she needs, however, Elizabeth has a hard time meeting friends in Ottawa and has a bodyguard, Carl, who follows her around everywhere.
When she meets Matthew at a hockey arena, he doesn’t know who she is at first. That soon changes, and a confrontation takes place between dad and daughter when she wants to start seeing Matthew.
“I think it would be hard for the children of the prime minister to have a social life,” said Poirier.
Sparks fly even further when Matthew’s parents, Helen and Wendell Cave, enter the picture.
“They are your average Canadian beer drinking, hockey watching family,” said Poirier. “This dad doesn’t take the world too seriously. He’s a construction superintendent, but at home it’s his wife Helen who is in control.”
Taking on the heavy lifting as Steven Cauldwell is Martin Niedballa, while Starling Taylor plays daughter Elizabeth.
The Cave family features Gavin Opp as Matthew, Neil Morrison as dad Wendell or “Dell” as he is better known, and Kristine Larsen, who is doing triple duty with costumes and set decor, as Helen.
Playing the “straight man” as bodyguard Carl Wagner is Gabe Newman.
“I am having fun with this particular group of people,” said Poirier, who is also producing and directing the play. “I thought I’d like someone else to direct this show as I am producing, but because of time constraints, I couldn’t get someone to do it so I’m back to directing and am having a hoot. I think it is appreciated by the cast and crew to have the author there.”
State of Confusion opens at the Schubert Centre Wednesday for a four-night dinner theatre run before it goes to compete at the Okanagan Zone (OZone) Drama Festival at Powerhouse Theatre May 26.
“This was on a bucket list for me to do one of my plays at the OZones. I wrote it last year and thought it would be a good fit for the festival to throw a comedy in there,” said Poirier.
The play has also been short-listed for Theatre’s BC’s annual playwriting contest.
This is not the first time a script by Poirier has been short-listed in the competition. He won top prize in 2007 for his one-act play Perriott and Mr. Grump, and last year was nominated for War on the Home Front, which he took to the stage in Vernon last summer.
“It’s nice when you get that kind of validation for your work. It’s not why I do it. It’s like fishing, if you catch a fish, great, if you don’t, that’s OK,” he said.
Tickets for the dinner theatre presentation, which includes a buffet meal at 6:30 p.m. and the show at 7:30 p.m., are available at the Ticket Seller, 549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca.
