Poster Boys

By Michele Riml. Directed by Andrew McIlroy. An Arts Club Theatre Company production. At the Granville Island Stage on Wednesday, April 2. Continues until April 26

Again and again, laughter flew out of me during Poster Boys. And more than once, I had to suck back sobs. Absurdity and compassion sit side by side in Michele Riml’s enormously smart and funny new play. Poster Boys will be a huge hit, and it deserves to be.

The story is about Caroline, the creative director at an advertising company called Zenspiration. Against office rules, she’s boffing a cute young coworker named Brad (Luke Camilleri). Together they’re working on a queer-positive campaign for ClearWater credit union. When Brad brings in a potential model for the campaign’s central ad, it’s Jack, who left Caroline at the altar 13 years earlier. Jack and his partner, Carson, agree to let images of themselves be used. But Carson is Roman Catholic, so it’s a slap in his face when the Catholic Church withdraws funding from ClearWater to protest the credit union’s support of his supposedly sinful “lifestyle”.

If the core of this plot sounds familiar, it’s because the Roman Catholic Church’s archdiocese of Vancouver pulled funding from a Vancity education initiative in 2003 to protest a similar campaign.

At its heart, Poster Boys is about Caroline’s loneliness. Jack’s unexpected reappearance provokes deep anxiety in her about not being good enough.

Riml’s script is fantastically theatrical. Every time Caroline starts to panic, she is mentally transported to the interior of an airplane, where she finds herself sitting next to a character called the Woman, who alternates between offering calming mantras and pointing out the terrorists onboard. At one point, Caroline and Jack meet in a karaoke bar and, as Jack tells her about his happy life with Carson, the Woman, who clearly embodies Caroline’s internal struggles, makes a number of crosses upstage singing “All By Myself”. (In a nice touch, the Woman is played by Daniel Arnold, the same actor who takes the role of Carson.)

The performers could hardly be more charming. Arnold has the showiest assignment, and he makes the most of it. Arnold’s Carson is as camp as a row of tents. Trying to seduce him into doing the ad, which means sitting for a photo session, Caroline names the famous photographer who’ll be shooting it, and Carson’s right hand flies to his chest as if clutching a string of pearls. But this characterization is more than a queer stereotype. In the midst of absurd situations, Arnold accesses deep emotion. After Carson confesses to Caroline that the word homo on a carton of milk finally forced him to acknowledge his feelings for men, he adds that his next step was to ask God to kill him. It’s a deft piece of writing and Arnold nails it.

Scott Bellis’s performance as Jack is more laid-back but no less skilled. Because he’s had a personal grooming accident, Jack is forced to wear ridiculous makeup for the photos, and Bellis’s understated discomfort makes this hilarious.

Lois Anderson’s Caroline is fantastically sassy as she clicks her designer heels together and chants “There’s no place like Holt’s,” and Anderson makes Caroline’s longing and her panic attacks painfully authentic.

Throughout, director Andrew McIlroy keeps things stylish. He chose the music with Riml—everything from Barbra Streisand to Joni Mitchell—and the choices are impeccable.

I have one quibble about the script. The internal elements that contribute to Caroline’s eventual crisis are thoroughly explored, especially her fear of aging as it relates to her physical appearance and romantic isolation. But the story line surrounding her most tangible goal—her desire to mount a successful campaign for ClearWater—is weak. There’s pressure from her boss, but he’s only a disembodied voice, and that’s not enough. As a result of this lack of focus, Act 1 feels longer than it should and the crisis in Act 2 isn’t as crisp as one would hope.

Still, Poster Boys is a tremendously satisfying and well-produced new work. A play’s premiere is like a birth, and this baby is healthy.