Best Brothers by Daniel McIvor - Prairie Theatre Exchange

Daniel McIvor brings us a very Canadian story with this tale of two brothers whose mother has died under curious circumstances (crushed by a large drag queen falling off a pride day float) and now the pair must deal with their loss together. The two could not be less alike, with the elder a straight laced hard working type-A architect, married with an ostentatiously expensive flat in Toronto (an entire scene plays out on the subject of his $250,000 kitchen. honestly...). The younger is a gregarious real estate agent, dressed regularly in purple through the show, and the reason for his mother's presence at the pride parade. The third "brother" is their mother's beloved dog - who truly had the mother's love, unlike her less furry sons. 

The piece was snappily directed by Bob Metcalfe with a keen attention to the darkly humourous subject matter, and well performed by the two performers. I would have liked to see more detailed physical work go into the scenes where the sons donned a hat and gloves and "took on" their mother's persona for a series of monologues. While these had potential to be sparkling, they came across as caricatures of the mother, which for me lost some of the impact. 

My overriding feeling, however, was that the play itself appeals to that part of us that wants to live that "ideal" life - the part that wants to write the perfect obituary for the slightly eccentric widowed mother, and whinge over such things as a $250,000 kitchen. But to be fair, I don't think that part of many of us even exists. 

We've struggled for years to create a truly Canadian theatre with our own voice separated from that of the British and American theatres, and I worry that this sort of piece sets us back.