Pantaloon’s Pawnshop - A Love of Gold

A commedia dell’arte inspired parable about the evils of greed, Pantaloon’s Pawnshop, is a children’s tale filled with humour and good lessons. Theatre Terrific is a Vancouver local theater company that brings together a vibrant community of professional and amateur actors with or without developmental, physical or mental health challenges. In the preamble to the show, writer and co-director, Susana Uchatius, encourages the audience to laugh, “You’re laughing with us, not at us. So please, laugh!”

The accordion and up-turned mixing bowl drum set begin to play and the musty smell of the church hall reveal a pawnshop and its proprietor, Pantaloon, deadened by his greed for money. The cast of characters arrives at Pantaloon’s shop to test their own money lust only to reveal they too have a deep dependency on stuff, until Innocence dances in and shines a light on their darkness.

The cast is committed and an extraordinarily talented bunch. Most lines in the text are simply sounds, but every actor delivers their part with intention and humour and there are some perfectly laughable bits, just as Uchatius told us. The music, composed by James Coomber and Angelo Moroni, is magical. Sweet and dark all at the same time (there’s just something about the accordion) and the songs are ones that stay in your head long after you’ve left the show.

There is also a pair of puppet narrators, Goat and Pig, which make comment on all the happenings. While they brought some more adult humour to the play, Goat and Pig could have been better utilized in leading the storyline. At multiple points in the show the two young audience members seated in front of me had to ask their mom what was going on. The narrator character could’ve alleviated some of the finer points of confusion, but even still the overall message of the play was clear and the two young audience members loved the show.

Pantaloon’s Pawnshop is a wonderful and inspiring night of theatre that the whole family can see. The Fringe Festival is lucky to have this show in their line-up.