Smalltown: nudge-nudge sold with gusto

A Pickup Musical in a pickup

Smalltown: A Pickup Musical is an original musical by Amiel Gladstone and Lucas Myers, directed by Matthew Payne, and with musical direction and arrangements by Brad L'Cuyer. A SKAM production currently on as part of the Victoria Fringe Festival it is staged from the back of a pickup truck in an urban park where wind and sun serve as mics and lighting, and a nearby shipping container is backstage and green room. 20-meter Garry oaks frame the action - perfect props for the opening song lyrics "...after the last tree falls."

The characters, plot and content are pretty much generically-mundane cardboard. A small town on the skids struggles with the stressors to cave-in to a big city corporation, and there's enough wink-wink, nudge-nudge here to fill a dumpster.

Yet despite the ridiculous small beer, the players do manage to 'sell' the material with gusto and charm, and the singing ranges from confident to first-rate. If your intellectual tastes are a step and a half more complex than 'Teletubbies', this just might be your ticket.

Smalltown runs at 6pm nightly at Kings Park, 1150 Caledonia Avenue (between Cook and Chambers.) No show on the 30th. Bring your security blanket; the evening gets chilly.

Smalltown: A Pickup Musical written by Amiel Gladstone and Lucas Myers. Produced by Theatre SKAM. For more information drive here.

By Charles Tidler