Trued on a Base Story: A Cautionary Tale
Marlo Campbell | for CBC News | Posted: July 21, 2017 2:59 PM | Last Updated: July 21, 2017
While writing is decent, the tone for Trued is too conversational
Rating: ★★
Company: The Opposite of People
Genre: Storytelling
Venue: 10 — Planetarium Auditorium
John Sadoway's autobiographical show explores what happens when adults violate their professional code to protect the minors in their care. In his specific case, what happens is a predatory high-school teacher manipulates a 17-year-old kid into entering what would become a 11-year sham of a relationship.
The writing here is decent – I particularly liked the Sting joke and the imagery of children caught in the middle of their parents' dysfunction as bullets in a gun clip – and the uncompromising honesty is to be commended. This is a man who is living with the consequences of past choices and it's not always pretty.
Sadoway definitely has something to say. At issue is the way he says it. - Marlo Campbell
Sadoway definitely has something to say. At issue is the way he says it: his delivery felt under-rehearsed and far too conversational, the kind of storytelling that would work much better over a few beers than from the stage.