Three Gods Walk into An Alley . . .

The Good Person of Setzuan
By Bertolt Brecht
Directed by Conrad Alexandrowicz
Set by Simon Farrow
Costumes by Kat Jeffrey

The Phoenix Theatre

Reviewed by Leah Callen

Imagine three gods touring Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, instructing the locals on the path to Enlightenment. In Bertolt Brecht’s play, three aspects of Buddha find no room at any inn in impoverished Setzuan. When Shen Te, a streetwalker who can’t say no, shelters them for the night, they bless her with a financial windfall. However, this gift from the gods unleashes a wealth of suffering when the commandment to do good splits her like lightning.

Now two-faced, her male alter ego, Shui Ta, sells opium secretly in the tobacco shop. Veronique Piercy’s masculine strut as Shui Ta made me crack up. It was terrific. Shen Te also falls for a pilot, Yang Sun, who is equal parts charisma and con with no real desire for a woman to co-pilot his life. Alex Frankson was gutsy in this role; Veronique reacted with the pitiable vulnerability of women who love the wrong men. As this falling angel struggles to protect both her pocketbook and her heart in a corrupt city, we wonder can one pray and also prosper?

The costumes add a rich dimension to this production. Each character bears a corporate logo from Starbucks to Playboy to Enbridge. The only exception is kind-hearted Shen Te who wears a charity logo: the World Wildlife Fund panda. The gods wear prayer beads and backpacks patched with oms and peace signs. Watching the Enlightened Ones wander uncomfortably through the garbage strewn streets in the Water Seller’s dreams was fabulously ironic. Their statue-like headwear gave the actors an otherworldly, idolatrous aura.

After slumming it among mortals, they too move from the mystical to material. I’ll never look at Facebook the same way again. This twist was a clever spin on what could have been clichéd: a prostitute with a heart of gold or bashing religion for every evil under the sun.

The cast was an amusing, vivacious ensemble. Characters broke out into song unexpectedly which gave relief like a water bottle on a hot day. There were some striking, surreal moments as characters literally fell for opium and workers were cut down like trees. I loved how Derek Wallis as Shu Fu gestured and spoke with choreographed precision as his mind calculates. I was torn about Brecht’s ending — which was both cheeky and frustrating. It struck me as more of a punchline to a “three gods walk into an alley” joke than a philosophical finale. I didn’t know whether to laugh or gasp.

No one in this story wants to see the truth except for our heroine whose heart breaks because of it. Even the gods turn blind third eyes to injustice. Watching this play, I stepped into Shen Te’s shoes before a mirror and asked myself: How good am I?

The show runs until Saturday, November, 24.

Leah Callen is an aspiring poet-playwright-screenwriter studying at the University of Victoria.