Director David Gassner really likes them tall tales…
Because Trout Stanley and Paul Bunyan are cousins. They’re each uncommon heroes of their own uncommon stories. Paul Bunyan was the central figure in a series of tall tales told around campfires in Canadian and American logging camps in the 19th century. Each is credited with outlandish feats. Take Paul Bunyan, for example – did you know that he created the Great Lakes as a watering hole that would be large enough for Babe to drink from? And that Paul was originally Canadian? (According to one guy, his name came from the French Canadian phrase “Bonyenne”, meaning “Good Grief”, but he might have been making it up.) And as for Trout Stanley – well, you’ll hear about him tonight.
On an academic level, tall tales are the mythic stories that we invent to help us make sense of the world around us. They explain our fears, and describe amazing feats to which we can aspire. But on another and much more enjoyable level, they reveal the extent and reach of our imaginations. There’s nothing like sitting around the fire and spinning stories: the more absurd and ambitious, the better. Some are stories, others are fibs, and still others are outright lies. And the best liar always gets the prize.
When you come see Trout Stanley (as you really must), think of Balagan Theatre as an urban basement version of that campfire. Canadian playwright Claudia Dey has a tall tale to tell, and her characters have their own tales to tell, and as far as we can tell it’s all true, so we’re going to help them along in the telling.
So come on down to Balagan, throw a log on the fire, crack a bottle, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, and listen up: In Northern British Columbia, near Tumbler Ridge (which is somewhere near Chetwynd, and these are real places), there once was a man named Trout Stanley, who was born somewhere between Misery Junction and Grizzly Alley. And there was a pair of sisters, twins who looked nothing alike. But as Trout says, that’s all fair game – it’s an unpredictable universe. And one day…..
