Chapped chaps

>>SideMart ditches the theatre for
a bar basement in the Montreal
premiere of The Dishwashers

by AMY BARRATT

A dingy, claustrophobic locale; three very different men forced into close contact with each other; latent violence. A classic Pinter play, perhaps? Nope. It’s The Dishwashers, by Governor General’s award-winner Morris Panych, and it’s the season opener for possibly the hippest new theatre company in town, SideMart Theatrical Grocery.

This is the gang that brought us one of last season’s most beautifully realized shows, American Buffalo, staged behind the MainLine Theatre with a backstairs entrance off of St-Dominique. The Dishwashers, which is, as the title suggests, about a bunch of guys toiling among the sinks and hot sprayers in the basement of a fancy restaurant, is being done in the basement of a fancy wine bar, BU on St-Laurent, starting September 9th.

Their penchant for unconventional, “site specific” venues is one of the things that make SideMart stand out. Artistic director Andrew Shaver thinks the venue was the part of the pitch to playwright Morris Panych that won SideMart the rights to the Montreal premiere of the piece.

“It’s been done at the Tarragon in Toronto, the Arts Club in Vancouver, pretty big theatres, but the first stage direction is ‘in a small dark room…’”

Shaver first saw what would eventually become the performance space for The Dishwashers a couple of years ago, when he and some friends befriended one of the owners of BU and “ended up having drinks downstairs where there’s a bit of a lounge.” The actor-director, who is also a founding member of SaBooge Theatre, was instantly taken with the “speakeasy feel” of the place. “When I read Dishwashers about a year later, I immediately thought of it,” he says.

Luckily, the people at BU shared his enthusiasm. The only thing is, SideMart couldn’t use the space on weekends because the bar gets too busy. So the show will be running at the beginning of the week—Sunday through Wednesday, when at least they won’t be competing with a lot of other theatre. The audience capacity is an intimate 25 per show.

The four founders of the company are involved with this latest production in various capacities: Shaver directs; Patrick Costello is in the cast; Graham Cuthbertson—usually seen on stage—is stage-managing; Trent Pardy is credited, along with Sarah Yaffe, as a designer. Joining Costello on stage are a couple of local “veterans”, Alain Goulem and Chip Chuipka, and newcomer Kyle Gatehouse.

After this show, SideMart will be moving into the brand new second stage at the Segal Theatre to perform the Canadian premiere of Trad, by Ireland’s Mark Doherty, from December 2nd to 16th. In the spring, they will present the world premiere of the stage adaptation of Canadian Derek McCormack’s novel The Haunted Hillbilly.

But for now, get your tickets quickly for The Dishwashers as space is limited. BU is reserving a large table every performance night for audience members to share a glass, a bite and any home remedies for chapped hands, with the cast.

The Dishwashers, Sept. 9-12, 16–19 and
23-26 at 8:30 p.m. at BU: Bar à Vin, 5245
St-Laurent, tickets $25. Reservations
required: info@sidemart.ca