Feb. 15, 2012 - Issue #852: The Coffee Issue
Horace Porridge Goes to Work
Sound familiar? You'd have to look pretty hard to find someone who hasn't, at some point or another, worked for a difficult person. Newly-formed company Blue Sky Theatre is bringing just such an individual to the stage in the company's inaugural production, Horace Porridge Goes to Work.
Written by University of Alberta drama graduate Jake Prins, the titular protagonist is the boss of ICBA, a successful insurance office in Alberta, and he lives up to everything you'd expect from someone with such a material name.
"He's very excessive," notes Blue Sky co-founder and Horace Porridge director Katie Hudson. "He likes lavish and excessive food, and suits, and material items. He's very set in what he believes are the keys to management. And he tends to take things he's learned to heart, and make them fact, and continuously tries to share those ideas."
Hudson describes Porridge as the boss of all bosses, and the set as the office of all offices—archetypes that are easily relatable, complete with bad carpet, cheap office supplies and ingratiating motivational posters.
As the central figure to the show, Porridge takes on a physical prominence. "He's got half of the stage devoted to his office," explains Hudson "So he's always a piece of the stage; even if he's not physically on stage, his office precedes him—he's always kind of looming over the space."
The inimitable presence of The Office in popular culture has created a very defined set of characteristics associated with a corporate office and its employees. Hudson notes that while Horace Porridge could be pegged as "conservative Alberta meets The Office," the play is certainly not a carbon copy of the characters and situations found on NBC's sitcom.
"I think first and foremost the play is a comedy; it's entertaining, it's fun," states Hudson. "It's not there to be anti-corporate, and it's not there to be anti-the other extreme, but just sort of there to pose the two sides and let you do with it what you will."
Thu, Feb 16 – Sun, Feb 19 (7:30 pm; 2 pm matinee on Feb 19)
Directed by Katie Hudson
Living Room Playhouse, $10 vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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