Sid the Handsome Bum
is a sensitive, thoughtful portrayal of a variety of personalities who inhabit
the DTES, all rolled into one. It's
written by Ira Cooper who mentioned, while promoting the show in another Fringe
lineup, that he invested considerable time in the DTES talking to some of the
characters there. He said he listened
carefully and wanted us to know that his motive is to help tell their stories,
not to exploit them. Sid is
beautifully portrayed by actor Joanna Rannelli. Ira and Jo are members of Vancouver's Spec Theatre (https://spectheatre.wordpress.com)
Sid invites us to look at shopping carts, and the people who
call them home, in a whole new way.
In fact, it's difficult to look at a shopping cart the same way again
after meeting Sid, and the various characters who contribute to his DID -
Disassociative Identity Disorder.
Despite his multiple personalities, at one point Sid describes himself
as a nobody. "I'm
no-one." Is it surprising to
think that this is how a homeless person might feel?
Reflecting on the situation he finds himself in,
accidentally on stage perceived as an opening act, Sid reflects on the traditional
purpose of theatre - to reflect society back to itself. Sid tells us about the
impacts of closing the institution known as Riverview and essentially being
thrown to the streets - relocated to the DTES. Regardless of how you feel about institutions, Sid's loss of
a place to go, with people to talk to, raises a lot of questions about what
happened there. It's a piece of
history people ought to know whenever the conversation of "what shall we
do with the homeless" arises.
We're also encouraged to think about the Pickton catastrophe
in a new light. Why did the
authorities ignore the now infamous pig farm for well over a decade? Homeless people are often highly
suspicious, often rightly so.
Sid's suggestion that Pickton was working for the government because, as
he put it, "they can't kill prostitutes," and "it's easier to
gentrify without those people around" may suggest a level of cruelty we
don't want to believe is possible, but Sid invites us to imagine the sort of
thoughts that circulate in the brain of someone who's been thrown out,
dismissed, ignored, abandoned. And
perhaps begin to ask our own questions about those missing and murdered
indigenous woman, and all the others whose stories continue to be ignored by
otherwise powerful and influential people.
The play's not all heavy doom and gloom, though. Sid is a complex series of characters,
each of which emerge at various times throughout the play to introduce
themselves and share a view of the world from their own perspective. They sing, they dance, they laugh and
cry, they're angry, happy, and not all of them agree with allowing Sid to be
the dominant personality!
Sid offers us a glimpse into a world that scares us so much
we prefer to ignore it, hoping someone else will take care of it and make it go
away. He reminds us we're all
closer to it than we might like, (this is probably what makes it so scary), at
the same time the efficient use of his shopping cart in which he carries all
the necessaries of life, is somehow alluring. Sid's life is simple.
Sid lives among us though he's often invisible, shuffling
from place to place in an attempt, as Sid explains, to "stay awake through
another wet day in the city of perpetual unlove." He's got a ready escape
route, into his own mind, whenever he needs it. He wants us to know he and all his friends, inside and out, do
normal things too. They like picnics
and parties, they love to fall in love, share jokes, hold hands.
Hold someone's hand and take it to see Sid: The Handsome Bum this Saturday September 5th at 5 pm at Venue
5 - St. Andrew's School, 1002 Pandora.
