Reviews 2004
Reviews 2004
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by Marcus Youssef, Guillermo Verdecchia & Camyar Chai, directed by Guillermo Verdecchia
Cahoots Theatre and NeWorld Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace, Toronto
February 20-March 7, 2004
The title The Adventures of Ali & Ali and the Axes of Evil is a bit misleading since it suggests that the show is a structured play. It is really an overlong, rather chaotic collection of amusing, sometimes hilarious, political cabaret sketches.
The framework, apparent only about a third into the show, is that two nomadic refugees, a Sammite Muslim Ali Hakim (Camyar Chai), who believes the Twelfth Imam was Sammy Davis, Jr., and a Coptic Christian Ali Ababwa (Marcus Youssef) are now stateless since the Coalition forces of Mauritius and the Solomon Islands “liberated” their fictional homeland of Agraba for its oil. (Any relation to Iraq and Afghanistan is purely intentional.) To raise money for their loved ones scattered among various detention centres, they have proposed to Theatre Passe Muraille to present a typical multicultural identity drama suitable for the whole family. When they frequently stray off target or their subject matter and language become too scurrilous, a Scottish upholder of Canadian taste (Tim Butler, who also plays their much abused Caucasian servant) stops the show to upbraid them. Interruption are themselves interrupted with slides of tacky show-related merchandise for sale, phone calls, the history of Agraba and televised security alerts.
Listeners of CBC Radio One’s Pass the Mic will already be familiar with Vancouverites Chai and Youssef and their Ali personas. Their rapid fire delivery and the way they off each other a constant pleasure. Their satire makes fun both of Middle Eastern stereotypes and of the Western mixture of greed and unquestioned belief in its own virtue. Yet, the funniest skits are about theatre--the two multicultural dramas skewering knee-jerk political correctness and Butler’s illustrated monologue about his declining fortunes since appearing on the X-Files. Now that the US propaganda war has abated after the Kay Report, a self-selected anti-war audience could well wish the satire were much more biting.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2004-02-26.
Photo: Marcus Youssef and Camyar Chai. ©2004 Tim Matheson.
2004-02-26
The Adventures of Ali & Ali and the Axes of Evil