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I went to see Douglas Coupland's play and even had after show drinks with him, which was quite amazing. Anyway, here is a description I wrote of the play in my LiveJournal:
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Douglas Coupland's play - September 10 - The Other Place, Stratford-Upon-Avon
14.10.04
Scattered around the stage area were mineral water bottles, standing upright and arranged in clusters of four. As they stood in the darkness, their presence seemed somehow eerie, as if the water inside was glowing.
The play began with Douglas Coupland lying on top of a tartan coffin, babbling an almost incoherent mantra of OMD lyrics: "The youth and the Imperialist Tribune was also addressed by a young girl from Nicaragua whose hands had been cut off at the wrists by the former Samosa guards.."
Doug continued the play by adding further depth to some of the themes that appeared in his books, exploring other related topics, and revealing new ideas and stories about his life, which were all somehow beautiful. If you've been to a reading by Douglas Coupland or seen the video of Close Personal Friend, you can compare those to this play, since they definitely had some similarities. The main difference was that since it was a small theatre, Doug was right in front of you and not always stationary - at one point he skipped around the stage, chanting another of his "mantras" - Patty Hearst's ransom note on audio tape to her family- "..I am not being starved or beaten or unnecessarily frightened.."
Kayla, dressed in revealing fishnet, with her face painted white, acted as his assistant. She looked at him creepily adoringly as she brought him a cocktail - a Zombie, which Doug renamed Amnesia (since what are zombies if not just people with amnesia?)
Also on the stage was a white coffin with a barcode and a plastic garden chair (that was offered to the winner of the Gap check). Doug told the audience about how as a child he waited to be the first to use a new photocopier, and that he photocopied a picture of Andy Warhol and Catherine Deneuve at the Window of the World cafe. During the play, he shared this image by spreading photocopies on coloured paper across the stage.
Doug pointed out occasions in his books where he had mentioned the World Trade Center: In Generation X - "The World Trade Center is the Morrissey twins, each standing six feet six inches". In All Families are Psychotic - "..above the world trade center, with a flock of pigeons, flying amid the skyscrapers..", and he also mentioned from Life After God, "would cats build scratching-post skyscrapers covered entirely with shag carpeting?", and I remember when I first read those passages, I didn't pay much specific attention to them, because at that time, I didn't really know much about what they were referring to.
Doug read his poetic and moving letter to Kurt (which also appeared in the book Polaroids from the Dead) and hearing him read it, I found it even more touching than when I had re-read it in April. It made me feel so nostalgic for the 90s, as did Doug's description of what Microsoft was like when he was doing research for Microserfs.
In a similar way to in Close Personal Friend, Doug pulled a cartoon-like black hole from his pocket and laid it carefully on the ground, making sure it was fully unfolded, and then peered deeply into it. Maybe we all need a black hole to keep in our pockets, just in case.
Doug's sad, yet powerful words, "I wanted to mulch myself to death," were the consequence of a bad reaction he had to anti-depressants. He also mentioned pills that could do all kinds of things - the shopping pill, the jail pill, and the September the 10th pill. A pill pot was opened and he scattered "September 10" pills and sitting in the front row, I could smell a sweet minty smell, like tic-tacs (note that they were not cinnamon), and Doug mentioned how they looked like stars.
I wish I could remember more, but this review that was linked to from The Bogus Tribute to Douglas Coupland) covers it quite well: Brian Draper- Connecting with Culture |
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