reviewvancouver:Thicker Than Water

For a good laugh go to Performance Works for David Mackay’s Thicker Than Water. This premiere by local actor and playwright David Mackay is a funny, well written comedy. Things are not always what they seem, nor are the characters.

A brother and sister, a boyfriend and a police woman are the four cast members whose mixed up lives and stratagems for straightening them out are presented by David Mackay, as Tim, Rebecca Auerbach, as Amanda, his sister, with Derek Metz as her shady boyfriend Dan, and Dawn Petten as the local cop.

The set is simple, the room in Tim’s inexpensive bachelor apartment. A worn chesterfield, a packing-case bookcase, a coffee table and a few black bin liners suffice. There are dark passages leading, supposedly to the kitchen and the bedroom. The street entrance is off stage. Guests enter from the outside through a partitioned hallway. This device provides time and space for anyone inside to conceal articles not for public view, before the visitor is able to see the interior of the apartment.

The mystery of the Peeping Tom, the unexpected violence of Dan, and the failure of Amanda and Tim to reap the benefit of Tim’s loan to his sister are played out with much entertaining and amusing repartee. The dialogue is delivered with speed and wit and keeps the audience attentive and intrigued.

There is never a dull moment in this well written, admirably directed and energetically performed presentation.

Go and see this. It will make you laugh at the absurdities of life in Vancouver.