Fans of opera be warned, this show is far from typical. It is, in fact, so much more. Part beauty, part tragedy, and many parts pain, Stickboy did not fail to deliver at the Vancouver Playhouse.
The show, directed by Rachel Peake, was adapted from Shane Koyczan’s autobiographical book of poetry of the same name, with music composed by Neil Weisensel. According to Leslie Dala, the Vancouver Opera’s music dramaturge, they first approached Koyczan in September 2013 and asked him to transform his story into libretto for the opera to perform.
Mixing classical with contemporary styles of music, traditional operatic libretto with spoken word, and live theatre with animated visuals created by Giant Ant — the company behind Koyczan’s viral “To This Day” video — Stickboy pushes boundaries to its advantage. The busy, visual opera certainly had something for everyone, but focused on one universal theme: bullying.
From the perpetrator, to the victim, or even a bystander or someone close to someone who has been affected, bullying can greatly alter the lives it touches. Stickboy took the story of bullying one step further. Based on Koyczan’s real life experiences in Yellowknife and Penticton, it illustrates just how destructive bullying can be. It also plays on the realization that we all have a monster inside of us, and that we all have the capacity to do terrible things.
According to Dala, the show “talks about the thing we all have within us — the capacity to harm others, or to just be bystanders who do nothing about it. All of us can think of times we’ve been one, or both, of those.”
The story follows ‘the boy,’ played by Sunny Shams, as he navigates the tough terrain of childhood, with scenes at age 10, age 13 and age 17. The settings range from classrooms, playgrounds, and treacherous hallways, to his sanctuary at home, featuring both graphics and Koyczan’s pre-recorded narration between scenes.
Some of the most poignant scenes revolve around his bedroom door, as a caring and concerned grandmother passes a notebook under the doorframe. Conversations are splayed across the pages, and moving visuals play on the screen behind them. Differing, perhaps, from many shows, Stickboy does not provide its audience with any reasoning for its horrors; it only offers “because” as an answer, and doesn’t feature any precise ending, because one generally doesn’t get either in real life.
With it’s ability to tackle themes that many shy away from, Stickboy seems to resonate with audiences, and was well deserving of the minutes-long standing ovation it received. There are plans to adapt the opera into a shorter play, with the aim of traveling to elementary schools throughout BC.
Stickboy is presented by Vancouver Opera October 23 to November 7 at the Vancouver Playhouse. For more information, visit vancouveropera.ca.
