Some Thoughts on Praxis Theatre and The Original Norwegian’s production of “You Should Have Stayed Home” at the Summerworks Festival

www.summerworks.ca
Aug. 4 - 14

Full disclosure: I should say right up front that I, like Tommy Taylor, the writer and performer of You Should Have Stayed Home (YSHSH), spent nearly 24 hours in the makeshift detention centre on Eastern Avenue during last summer’s G20. My experience inside was very similar to his. I can assure anyone that has doubts that nothing in Tommy’s retelling is exaggerated or fabricated. If anything, Tommy and I likely had a milder experience inside the detention centre than many others. 

I wanted to like (YSHSH). I wanted it to be the marriage of politics and theatre, ideas and art, that I struggle to create. I was expecting that Tommy, along with the amazing artists at Praxis Theatre and The Original Norwegian, would achieve something quite special. Yet I left sorely disappointed, a little angry, but most of all, confused. I was confused as to what this show was supposed to be, and why this group of intelligent, passionate and talented artists felt that this was a story that needed telling. 

Now, I don’t like the term “political theatre”. I think all theatre is political. By deciding what stories we tell we are making a political statement. What then, is the political statement being made with YSHSH? Well, what’s the story? It’s the story of a charming young man, in love with his girlfriend, who has a fairly traumatic experience during the G20 and ends up safe, healthy, and still in love with his girlfriend. There is no sense of political growth; there is nothing in the story that would suggest any understanding of the events that unfolded. In the show Tommy very proudly says that he returned to Queen’s Park a few days after the G20, for another protest, but this time a changed man; Whereas he had previously been a casual observer, a curious bystander, now he was an “activist”.... he was speaking to the crowd. I remember that speech. It was passionate, and articulate and enthusiastic, but it was about himself. It was about his experience. And that was fine. I totally understand the need that Tommy felt to tell his story. I felt it too! In fact, much of YSHSH sounds just like the conversation I had over drinks with most of my friends in the weeks and months after the G20; conversations with those who weren’t there, those who didn’t understand, and those who just saw the flaming cop cars on the news. 

But this is a year later. I expected there to be some semblance of growth in Tommy. I was expecting, or maybe just hoping, that there would be some recognition of the fact that what happened to Tommy and me and over a thousand others is the daily reality for people in our city. In my mind there is still an important reason to tell stories of the detention centre, but not simply because it happened. It is important because it took 1,000 mostly middle class white people getting arrested for the media to pay attention, while most of us are blind to the never ending violent and arbitrary detention of young men from Jane and Finch, those seeking refugee status, the homeless, and so on. But there is none of this in Tommy’s story. It is still just about him.

For me the most troubling thing about the play, and I realize I’ll find few allies on this one, is the lack of interest in understanding, in any way the actions of the black block on the Saturday of the conference. Tommy refers to them as “vandal assholes”, and refers to their actions as “the violence”. I think that if you talk about “the violence” on the weekend of the G20, and you’re referring to broken windows, you’re missing the point entirely. The violence that occurred that weekend was the rampant beatings and arbitrary detainment meted out by the police. The violence was the social violence of the austerity measures being put in place by the representatives of the G20 countries. In the play, Tommy describes the crowd that was waiting for him when he got out of the detention centre, those that cheered for him, those that fed him and gave him water. These people were likely some of the same “vandal assholes” he so callously derides earlier in the play. Now, it is likely Tommy didn’t know that, but I don’t believe that he made any attempt to find out.  The community organizers who worked tirelessly to make possible the outbursts of love and resistance and community that occurred during the G20 all agreed that there must be respect for a diversity of tactics. That means that even if someone chooses tactics that are different from yours, that you disagree with, you still support them. This is essential to movement building and solidarity, and Tommy has, wilfully or not, completely ignored it. Furthermore, in the program notes Praxis thanks the outstanding hip hop duo Test Their Logik. I imagine they would be disgusted to be associated in any way with a production that refers to the black bloc as “vandal assholes”. So much for solidarity.

One of the main criticisms of black bloc tactics is the fact that it somehow takes away from the so-called “legitimate” protestors. In truth, i think that, a year later, focusing on the detention centre, does more to drown out the message and the causes that people were fighting for than the black bloc ever could. While people continue to suffer with increasing intensity the effects of austerity measures, is this where our focus should be? While the police who arrested us, and kettled us continue to murder youth on our streets, are the actions during the G20 what we should still be angry about?

Maybe it’s a mistake for me to be looking for any kind of valid political message in YSHSH. Because in truth, at its heart, this is a purely personal story. This is Tommy telling Tommy’s story, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. And the production, although lacking much actual theatricality, is quite effective in its sparse, simplistic staging. I think there could be much more use of the cast of extras playing detainees (why use recorded voice-over when you have some of the most talented young actresses in the city on stage with you???), but when they are used it is striking. It would be nice if Tommy were fully off book, unless this is a workshop production, in which case that should be noted. Yet this show is being sold as a political, controversial piece of theatre. I think that is the mistake. As a simple, honest personal story, this is a fairly successful piece of theatre. As a relevant, social justice minded production it is wrought with problems, and possibly even offensive.

Still, I say, don’t stay home. Go see this play and join the conversation.

-Jonah Hundert