What we have here is a fervour to communicate

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This article was published 26/03/2021 (1958 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Plé is a play for kids that takes a joyously scattershot approach to the topic of interpersonal communication over the course of an hour.

It’s bold in one respect. It is told in three languages: English, French and American Sign Language. Occasionally, it proceeds in the knowledge that the audience might not get what is being said. Since it is intended for audiences between the ages of five and 10, that runs contrary to the usual approach for kids entertainment to spell things out in the clearest terms possible.

In short, the show leans into the fact that it’s not always going to be understood.

That’s a positive. The play acknowledges kids are basically in a perpetual state of trying to understand the world around them. Having your audience pay attention to every sound and visual nuance is not only ideal, it’s the point of the show.

It undoubtedly helps that, structurally, Plé borrows from Sesame Street, with a melange of sketches, filmed segments and animated graphics, all presented in candy colours. The fact that the intended live show at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People has been filmed for streaming allows for enhanced use of animation and green screen. Again, a positive.

Co-created by Shannon Guile, Joanna Hawkins, Laura Lussier and Andraea Sartison, the show features Guile, Hawkins and Anna-Laure Koop representing, respectively, English, ASL and French speakers. The show doesn’t acknowledge the Canadian French-English schism, instead emphasizing challenges facing the deaf.

Indeed, it is at its best in depicting those issues. A recurring bit is Deaf Busters, in which deaf performer Hawkins employs a Ghostbusters-esque proton gun to illuminate her fellow cast members on misinformation about the deaf: Not all deaf people can lip-read; hearing aids are not a panacea for the deaf.

Another sketch told from a deaf person’s point of view demonstrates how the simple act of buying an ice cream cone can be stressful between a deaf customer and a hearing merchant. It ends with a gentle gag, but it should be a potent moment for empathetic kids.

The writing is a tad weird at times, especially in the chapters telling the recurring story of a fox and an elephant in a zoo. The two neighbouring animals are in love but neither can communicate that fact because they don’t speak the same language. This would be helpful, we learn, because the chocolate tree in the fox’s pen would supply much-need moisturizer for the elephant.

Guile has worked on an oddball premise or two in her time with the sketch comedy troupe Hot Thespian Action, but that level of strangeness in the context of a children’s play seems a little too out-there for its own good.

There is also a bit of dark humour in a scene where Hawkins’ beach-goer is accosted by King Kong, who expresses his love for her via sign language… to disastrous effect, given the palms-together sign for “marriage.” Funny, sure, but we’re not sure how this will go over with the five-year-olds.

Nevertheless, the hour-long show generally stays fun and amusing throughout, with Guile, Hawkins and Koop all demonstrating that a lively stage presence needs no translation.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing