ON STAGE
What: Mustard
Where: Belfry Theatre, 1291 Gladstone Ave.
When: Nov. 1 through Nov. 25
Tickets: $24.15 to $57.75 online at belfry.bc.ca/mustard or by phone at 250-385-6815
Mustard, the award-winning play by Toronto鈥檚 Kat Sandler, asks some serious questions about purpose in life. During a recent interview, the show鈥檚 star, Vancouver actor Andrew McNee, also had one query needing to be answered.
鈥淲hen do I get to play a judge and sit at a big desk?鈥� McNee, a character actor with several young-adult hits, said with a laugh.
As the titular character in Sandler鈥檚 Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning play, McNee is required to go all-out physically, the latest in a series of roles that employ his impressive set of skills. In Mustard, he plays the clown-like imaginary friend of a 16-year-old whose mother appears to be on the verge. His character 鈥� who was once visible only to the teenager named Thai, who is played here by Heidi Damayo 鈥� soon becomes an integral part of the rapidly unfurling life of her single mother, Sadie, who is played by Jenny Wasko-Paterson.
Divorce is looming, and dangerous drinking has become commonplace. 鈥淭he comedy borders on slapstick and absurdist, and it鈥檚 also quite a touching, sad story as well,鈥� McNee said. 鈥淯ltimately, the play is about the re-negotiation of family and love 鈥� all different kinds of love.鈥�
Mustard opens at The Belfry tonight, and runs through Nov. 25. McNee was in last year鈥檚 Belfry production of Onegin, and will be known to viewers for a variety of film and television roles aimed at younger audiences, including voiceover work in the My Little Pony and Mega Man animated franchises. McNee won a supporting actor Leo Award for his performance in Adventures in Public School, the 2017 teen comedy starring Judy Greer, and appeared as Coach Malone in three Diary of a Wimpy Kid films, another teen-friendly film franchise.
The role of Mustard offers something of a reprise from his father-figure roles. Termed a 鈥渄arkly comedic bedtime story,鈥� McNee is having fun creating a lovelorn imaginary friend within the parameters of the character. 鈥淚t鈥檚 genre-busting. It鈥檚 got a bit of kitchen-sink drama stuff, it definitely has straight-up comedy and a bit of horror in there, too. But it also has a couple of scenes that fall into French farce, a Moli猫re kind of thing where the pace ramps up, before it flips back to a mother-daughter moment.鈥�
McNee is well prepared for the role. During his career, the father of sons aged six and eight has become adept at playing adult characters who are young at heart. 鈥淥ne of my strengths in that respect is that I really love to explore. My wife and I talk about the importance of silly a lot with our kids.鈥�
When the current Belfry production wraps, McNee will revert to more traditional roles, and is pencilled-in to appear at Vancouver鈥檚 Bard on the Beach festival, Western sa国际传媒鈥檚 largest professional Shakespeare festival, this summer. He loves the variety his profession provides, and his role in Mustard is another reminder of his profession鈥檚 unpredictability.
鈥淓very time I鈥檓 working I try to remind myself how ridiculous this is that I鈥檓 playing for a living. It鈥檚 really ridiculous. Whether I鈥檓 doing My Little Pony and Mega Man or Mustard or Hamlet in Bard on the Beach, it鈥檚 this weird, magical, bizarre thing. I always think about how lucky I am that I get to do this.鈥�
