Proud: A GCTC Production. Patrick Langston in the Ottawa Citizen
Photo. Andrew Alexander
Michael Healey and Jenny Young.
This Prime Minister is shrewd, cynical — and likable. Astute, funny play at GCTC is based on Stephen Harper
No doubt about it: Michael Healey sticks us with a problem.
On the one hand, no matter what your political persuasion you’ll probably like — or at least have a chunk of fellow feeling toward — the unnamed prime minister, a man based on Stephen Harper, at the centre of Healey’s political satire Proud.
On the other hand, how can you not be repulsed by this shrewd, powerful leader’s cynical reduction of political life to manipulation of public opinion and the achievement of his personal Holy Grail: a better debt-to-GDP ratio? Then again, who ever said theatre, or politics for that matter, is supposed to wrap life up in one tidy package? Healey himself plays the prime minister in this funny, astute and talky play that is set in the days after the 2011 federal election.
The Conservatives, rather than the NDP, have swept Quebec and hold .read more …..http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/This+Prime+Minister+shrewd+cynical+likable/8908639/story.html