Review: Alligator Pie

Raquel Duffy (photo credit: Jason Hudson)

Tickle my Tummy, Toronto
Soulpepper’s Alligator Pie is pure unadulterated joy

Stuart Munro

About five seconds into the opening night of Soulpepper’s new production, Alligator Pie, the audience knew it was in for a treat. One by one, as each member of the five-person Creation Ensemble poked its head through the stage floor, the audience was introduced to five unique personalities. In a manner reminiscent of the “Day by day” sequence in the film version of Godspell, each performer wandered through the piles of miscellany on stage, selecting items best suited to them, before launching into the children’s poems of Dennis Lee, Toronto’s first Poet Laureate. Just as that ancient text used in Godspell has become ubiquitous, these poems are now a part of our national fabric – growing up in BC, I remember grabbing a copy of Alligator Pie during a lunch hour and reciting poems to my classmates who were all eager to hear them again. But even if you’re not familiar with Lee’s work, you’ll find that you recognize yourself and the people you love in his words. There is an undeniable truth to these poems.

like all good art, the poems (while written for children) are able to show the adults in the room things about themselves

The success of this new show is due, in no small part, to the members of the newly formed Soulpepper Creation Ensemble: Ins Choi, Raquel Duffy, Ken MacKenzie, Gregory Prest, and Mike Ross. Without any kind of pretense or attempts to make these poems more (or less) than what they are, the ensemble recites and sings Lee’s words with whimsy, reverence, humour, and most of all, love. There’s no plot to speak of, but that isn’t really necessary. Like (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song, which came before it, Alligator Pie’s various texts are connected through the movement on stage, and somehow you believe that they were always intended to be heard in this order. And like all good art, the poems (while written for children) are able to show the adults in the room things about themselves they may have forgotten or perhaps never realized they always knew.

Ensemble member Mike Ross is very familiar with these poems, having released a CD called The Dennis Lee Project some years ago, and creating another show based on the poet’s work, Civil Elegies, for Soulpepper. But Alligator Pie has been created and composed through the communal effort of the ensemble, and their delight on stage is palpable. As they run through the playground, designed by ensemble member Ken MacKenzie, they take us through a host of emotions, from joy and sadness, through melancholy to love. It is always honest, and it is always engaging. And at an hour long, it is entirely too short!

The audience on opening night was a mix of adults and children, and to be honest, I’m not sure who enjoyed it more. Certain jokes landed at different times for different age groups, and several of the children felt comfortable enough to comment on the action, which the ensemble members always handled brilliantly. It was clear the audience was enthralled with what was happening on stage, and in all my opening nights, I have never seen an audience leap to its feet the way it did when the lights came up for the curtain call. Alligator Pie is a magical, wonderful experience that is able to capture the heart of anyone prepared to be just a little bit silly, and greatly moved.

Alligator Pie plays in rep