Montreal’s Pride Festival and Pride Parade are still a month away, but Hudson village is already celebrating, with their first ever Pride Parade held Saturday July 5th and Mark Crawford’s queer play Bed and Breakfast, playing at the Hudson Village Theater.
“Bed and Breakfast is about a gay couple that moves from Toronto to a small town to open up a B&B,” says director Trevor Barrette “and it’s about building a life together, building a home and building a community.“
The play is a two-actor comedy with two dozen different characters. Although hilarious and full of energy that keeps the audience on their toes, it also tackles small-town homophobia, portraying both the heartbreaking hate that couple Brett and Drew face, and their resilience to move on and build the life they want.
“These stories still matter,” says Barrette. “A negative thing happens to [Brett and Drew] just because of who they are, and one of the characters says, ‘Surely, these things don’t still happen,’ but they do. I think it’s not about those things, but it’s about how we get out of them and how we find each other after being told that we shouldn’t be who we are.”
“Mark Crawford has told this beautifully funny story,” continues Barrette, “but it’s full of poignant moments that ask the audience to reflect and think, are we being the best allies we can? Are we inviting people into our community, or are we pushing them away?”
I was amazed by actors Stephen Maclean Rogers and Jonathan Patterson’s performances, at the incredible energy they had on stage from start to finish, changing characters with a simple twirl and having the audience immediately recognize the characters by their distinct persona: Brett’s nephew’s “I dunno,” Dustin’s baked goods and shyness, his mother’s “Oh my God” at the beginning of every sentence.
With their laughter and sighs, I could tell that, just like me, the audience shared the characters’ happiness and sorrows, excitement and fears. It’s truly something when there are only two people on stage, but, switching characters every five seconds, they can still make you feel as if there are too many people and too many things happening at once, leaving you just as overwhelmed as the characters are.
“Bed and Breakfast is a play that I’m approaching as a musical,” explains Barrette. “I’m using all of my experience directing musicals to say, okay, how does this work? What is the choreography of the scene? What is the musicality of the scene? We’re approaching it in a way that is organized and dynamic, and based on movement and voice.”
Different versions of Mark Crawford’s Bed and Breakfast have been performed all over Canada since 2015, including at Centaur Theater in Montreal in 2017. This play is truly a gem, a hilarious, exciting and moving play that is definitely worth seeing and Hudson Village Theater’s intimate setting makes the ambiance just right for this play.
Bed and Breakfast is playing at Hudson Village Theater July 9-20. Find tickets and showtimes HERE.
