Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow rap about love and gay issues in Bash’d at the GCTC.
Rap, opera and frank discussions of gay-bashing. These themes are not typically combined on Ottawa’s theatre stages. But this month at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, BASH’d has explored all three in an attempt to get people talking.
From Jan. 12 to 31, Alberta natives Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow are performing their acclaimed “gay hip-hopera” to share laughs with audiences, while raising awareness about the problem of violence against gay people.
BASH’d tells the story of Jack and Dillon, a happy homosexual couple whose relationship is ruined by a brutal incident of gay-bashing, causing Dillon to seek revenge against the perpetrators.
Craddock says that garnering laughs from the audience is the intention of the musical-comedy, but the real gain would be causing political action.
“This issue is far from solved,” says Craddock. “Whether it be hate crimes, equal marriage or statements made by people of authority – gay people are still treated like lesser citizens.”
Craddock says he hoped the equally goofy and political script will send a message to a city that is home to the federal government, and a history of violence against the gay community.
David Pepper, director of community development for the Ottawa Police, says that this kind of discussion still needs to be had more than 20 years after the death of Alain Brosseau in Ottawa. In 1989, Brosseau was walking home from work through Major’s Hill Park when he was viciously attacked by a group of teenagers who assumed he was gay, though he was not.
Brosseau was then robbed and dangled from the Alexandria Bridge, only to fall mercilessly to his death on the rocks below.
“When that sort of violence and hostility is fully eliminated at the local and national level, gays and lesbians will have the security they deserve,” says Pepper. “Until then, none of us is really safe.”
Pepper adds that taking a risk on a theatrical discussion of hate crimes and gay-bashing is commendable on the part of the GCTC.
Shawn Menard, president of the Centretown Citizens Community Association, strongly supports the play, as well as other forms of activism, including the movement to have a section of Bank Street become Ottawa’s official gay village.
“I encourage more productions and initiatives like this,” says Menard. “We are talking about a large population of people whose opinions need to stay out there.”
Craddock and Cuckow originally penned the play in 2006 while working as actors and playwrights in Alberta. According to Craddock, the pair wrote BASH’d to express their opposition to the Alberta government’s militant stance on same-sex marriage at the time. They decided to use rap and the traditional operatic themes of life, death, love and loss in order to have a lasting effect on audiences.
“Opera haters need not fear, the play is only opera in the symbolic sense,” laughs Craddock.
“We rap because that form of music can be powerful and exhibit social consciousness when done correctly.”
Craddock says their use of hip-hop might also speak strongly to homosexual teenagers, a group that needs to be reached.
“Teens that are vulnerable because of their age and sexual orientation have to feel supported,” says Craddock. “We are fighting very hard for young lives that are twisted and ended by gay-bashing.”
BASH’d has had successful runs in four cities, even picking up the Outstanding Musical Award at the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival.
Next on their list of tour dates is a stop in Vancouver, where they will continue the action as part of the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad.