Arts & Entertainment

 

 

Wo al Xiang jao xiao Zi
“I Like Banana Boys’ )

Banana Boys, peforming at the Firehall Arts Centre until March 17th

Vince Yim, OP Banana-Flavoured Twinkie

66 B

anana” is the derogatory
term given to East/South-east Asians
(usually Chinese, but could be applied
to Japanese, Korean, etc.) who all-
but abandon their native heritage,
essentially becoming “white on the
inside” but still being “yellow on the
outside.” Banana Boys, based on the
novel by Terry Woo, tells the story
of five Chinese-Canadians in their
struggle with their cultural identity in
all aspects of their lives, such as family,
relationships, school, jobs, and their
friends. As each of them try to succeed,

 

whether it be succumbing to external
pressure or finding their own path, each
of them explores what their identity
truly means.

Each of the five friends represents a
specific aspect of growing up Chinese
in Canada. Rick (Victor Mariano)
became a successful business person
at the expense of his own identity and
his friends. Mike (Simon Hayama)
really wants to be a writer, but becomes
a doctor, according to his mother’s
wishes. Shel (Parnelli Parnes) is the
meek romantic, trying way too hard

to please his girlfriend who’s actually
cheating on him. Luke (Vincent

Tong) is the scholastic underachiever,
dropping out of school to work as a DJ.
And Dave (Rick Tae) is the angry one,
perceiving everything as a racial slur
against the Chinese.

With a minimal cast and light use of
stage building and props, director Leon
Aureus puts a surreal and hilarious spin
on cultural identity. Admittedly, with a
mostly Chinese audience in the Firehall
Arts Centre, getting most of the gags
on target was not hard by any means. If
you are within the intended audience,
much of this is frighteningly familiar
and jaw-droppingly hilarious. But,
regardless of your culture, struggle with
one’s identity is a universal theme, and
the story is engaging, the performances
are strong, and the drama is touching.

Banana Boys contains several
motifs. Dave regularly records his
racist incident log, describing each
incident of racism and his reactions,
which are initially amusing, but become
disturbingly violent as they progress.
Rick jumps back and forth through
time as he tries to figure out what
led to his death (he is shown dead in
the beginning of the play). And, the
writer-turned-doctor Mike is subjected
to emergency room scenes, as their
struggle to find their racial identity
often has strange effects.

The highlight of the play is a surreal

game show segment, when Mike is
forced to choose career paths, but he is
only allowed to chose four professional
fields: doctah (“doctor”), loi-yah
(“lawyer”), beesness man (“business
man”), or einjah-neeah (“engineer”).
Hiding in the audience is his mother
(played by Parnes in a fat suit, sumo
outfit, and a curly grey wig), who
coerces him into a more practical career
choice.

At times, the play becomes a
bit pop-culture heavy, tossing in
random references to everything from
TransFormers to “Theory of a Nickel-
Fault,” which often becomes a little
gratuitous, and runs the risk of dating
the material, which should be strong
enough on its own.

Regardless, it is worthy of a
recommendation regardless of your
culture. Just try not to laugh too hard
when the Mike’s mother in a sumo
outfit comes out.

 

Music on the Tube

Mark Fisher, OP Contributor

| Eleven — “Paralyzer”
This video is Finger Eleven’s attempt
to ride the new “dance-rock” wave,
brought on by the popularity of Franz
Ferdinand and Killers. In this video,
Finger Eleven takes the beat from Franz
Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” and adds in
some extra guitar distortion. The video
stars a man in a business suit walking
along the street, who can’t help but get
caught up in the irresistible (stolen)
beat of the band, so he begins to dance
against his will. Inevitably, a dancing
mob of similarly attired business people
soon forms around him. The dancers
never actually see the band who is
producing the music that is leading to
their sudden outburst of uncontrollable
dancing, which is a good thing, as none

12

of the professional dancers hired for this

video would ever go to a Finger Eleven
concert in their life.