Racially charged play sure to score with teen audience

Joey and Christine are 17-year-olds who have been dating for six months.

He's white, and proud enough of his part-Irish heritage to cheer for the Boston Celtics and buy tickets to an Irish dance show.

She's Asian, born in Canada to traditional Chinese immigrants.

He's a mouthy basketball jock with a cocky attitude.

She's so quiet and meek, you'd hardly notice her in the high-school hallways. She tries to disappear on purpose, she admits in one of this play's stinging moments, because inviting attention might provoke racist stares or taunts of "slant-eyed Chink" like she has experienced in the past.

Offensive Fouls is a two-character, 45-minute Canadian drama by Jason Long about teens confronting racism. It unfolds in a single, increasingly tense schoolyard conversation between girlfriend and boyfriend.

Manitoba Theatre for Young People's production, in association with Toronto's Hustle n' Bustle Theatre, will be seen by 30,000 junior-high and high-school students as it tours Manitoba until May. It has two performances for the general public, tonight and Saturday at MTYP's theatre at The Forks.

Jackie Chau's set consists of a graffiti-covered wall that includes a portrait of Martin Luther King, a chain-link fence, two benches and an old-fashioned metal garbage can. It's more suggestive of a New York schoolyard than a Manitoba one, but its grittiness will appeal to teens.

The night before this after-school encounter, there's been an incident in the neighbourhood. Three male youths roughed up an elderly Chinese convenience-store clerk and hurled racial slurs at him. Christine (Eileen Li) has heard that Joey (Colin Doyle) might have been involved.

Is the rumour false, or could Joey be guilty? A multi-racial junior-high audience at a school performance Wednesday was engrossed in the high-stakes conversation as Christine went on the offensive.

It's revealed that Joey habitually jokes about people's race, and Christine has been silently tolerating it. He stereotypes "Chinamen" as dwarves, Arabs as terrorists, and so on. As for Christine, "You're not really Chinese," he tells her. "Don't take that the wrong way."

Playwright Long tells it like it is, and the best thing about the realistic, thought-provoking script is that it's not painted in black and white. Christine, it turns out, hasn't been entirely honest. She's afraid to tell her parents she's dating a non-Chinese boy, she's guilty of stereotyping and, to some extent, she's ashamed of her heritage.

There are words in the script that don't ring true -- what kid today uses "cross" to mean grumpy or angry? -- but for the most part, Long is tuned in to how teens interact. He relieves the tension with some playful laughs and moments of affection.

He does give more character attributes to Joey than to Christine. Joey has his passion for basketball, while Christine isn't given any hobby or interest.

The solidly acted Offensive Fouls is highly relevant to life for today's teens. Rather than delivering a preachy lesson about tolerance and understanding, it brings attitudes into the open to stimulate thought and discussion. In terms of addressing a need, it's a slam dunk.

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

Theatre Review

Offensive Fouls

Manitoba Theatre for Young People

Tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets $14.50 at 942-8898 or www.mtyp.ca

Four stars out of five

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 17, 2012 D6