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written and directed by Edward Roy

Topological Theatre/Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People, Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People, Toronto

April 30-May 16, 2008

Good plays for young people seem to be divided into two sorts--those that are simply good plays that anyone can enjoy and those that are primarily good for discussion.  Dead Ahead, the latest play by Ed Roy, falls into the latter category.  Thematic elements are not connected and the ending is left open.  This may be ideal for a discussion but does make fully satisfying theatrical experience.

Roy introduces us to three friends who are avid player of an ultra-violent video game called Dead Ahead, seemingly inspired by Grand Theft Auto, where gamers compete to dethrone “Big D” as crime lord of Mega City.  We hear gunshots and women screaming on Lyon Smith’s vivid soundscape as the gamers play as their avatars in front of  Chris Clifford’s abstract but effective video projections.  Yet, the show is mostly concerned with the lives of the gamers.  Brainy Andrew (Ben Lewis) is best at the game and he’s the only one with a girlfriend, Megan (Sabryn Rock), whom he’s reluctant to introduce to his friends for fear of breaking up their camaraderie.  It doesn’t help the emotionally troubled Tiga (Ashton Doudelet) that his divorced father keeps dating young “skanks.”  Worst off is Cory (Eli Ham), whose alcoholic father hits him when he’s drunk.  When Cory’s father is murdered, Cory and Tiga conspire to make it look like a botched robbery and make Ben swear not to contradict them.  

For a play only an hour long, Roy develops complex issues of peer pressure, loyalty and friendship.  Should you stand by friends even if you think they’ve committed murder?  Yet, just at this point the play ends unresolved.  Although all four characters play Dead Ahead, Roy never makes explicit whether or not the game has influenced the teens’ behaviour.  The problem is that if Roy thinks that the game has no influence, then why has he included it the play since it otherwise distracts from his tale of loyalty.  All four actors play their parts well despite Roy’s encouragement of an over-emphatic acting style that does no favours to Lewis and Doudelet, who tend to lose voice control when shouting.  Will Andrew and Megan go to the police?  Why are the video game scenes in the play?  These are good discussion questions, but ones the play itself should answer.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2008-05-02.

Photo: Eli Ham, Ben Lewis, Sabryn Rock and Ashton Doudelet. ©David Hawe.