Awful jobs: The Dishwashers preview

Nelken, Anniko and Wilkie. Get scrubbing.

Harry Nelken had a knife held to his head when when he drove cab. Rylan Wilkie spent a month phoning Americans to ask their opinions on a tax. Tom Anniko gutted chickens on an assembly line, snagging the occasional rotten bird loaded with an partially developed egg.

Those were the worst jobs of the main cast of The Dishwashers, Prairie Theatre Exchange's upcoming comedy, which follows a ruined stock trader into a subterranean dish pit  In the bowels of the restaurant where he used to eat, Emmett's soul stares into the abyss - a future scraping endlessly re-dirtied dishes. Or is it hell? His coworkers, head dishwasher Dressler and pit-lifer Moss, both embrace their roles as necessary cogs in the dining machine. They don't look for anything bigger. As Dressler says, "Ambition is a dream you wake up from in the last moment of your life."

Canadian author Morris Panych dedicated the play to his father, a man who worked menial jobs his whole life without complaint. In service industry heavy Winnipeg, it's a fair bet some audience members will see their own lives played out on stage.

 “We in Canada think there’s a large middle class,” says Wilkie, who plays Emmett, “but there’s tonnes of people working shit crap jobs we don’t even notice or care to recognize; people picking up garbage or cleaning our condos. I’ve even noticed doing this play walking through the (Portage Place) mall, ‘Hey that guy’s cleaning that staircase.’ And I’d never noticed him there or cared to notice before.”

“You stay in jobs like cab driving or dishwashing and you rationalize what you’re doing, because you’re afraid, or you tried things and it didn’t work out.” Nelken observes. “But those who do that, they’re people none the less... That’s what I learned from driving cab; never underestimate anyone and never overestimate anyone.”

The plays’ existential question – is a menial existence worth living? – may be presented hilariously (In one scene, two dishwashers debate letting the third drown in a plate of mashed potatoes and decide no, he shouldn’t get so lucky), but the struggle between ambition and settling for present circumstances have the cast seriously reflecting on their own lives.

“I put myself in a situation once where my ambition was beyond my ability,” says Anniko. “I was working at the CBC trying to move up the corporate ladder and I went before a board to interview for a job. As soon as I sat down I realized ‘Oh my god I’m out of my depth’ and it was humbling and humiliating. And I walked out of there knowing I didn’t want to go any higher; I’d reached the point where I was comfortable. That was a cure for my ambition.”

“In the end, it may have been the best thing that happened to me.”

The Dishwashers runs January 23 to February 10. Tickets and details at www.pte.mb.ca.

Favourite lines in the play

Wilkie: Ambition is a dream you wake up from in the last moment of your life.

Anniko: As you grow older your dreams become smaller. They won’t even be dreams anymore, just little wishes.

Nelken: Don’t let go of the rope!

Altar Boyz Preview

(l-r: Michael Lyons, Marc Devigne, Jeremy Walmsley, Joseph Sevillo and Simon Miron - the cast of Altar Boyz)

Prairie Theatre Exchange’s main space is in a state of controlled chaos as the media call for Altar Boyz – PTE’s current co-production with Winnipeg Studio Theatre – gets going. Lights shoot from every angle; the accompanist strikes a few chords on his piano; the five actors who make up the mock Christian boy band warm up their voices – each rehearsing a different song. Artistic Director Bob Metcalfe has to shout to rein everything in.

Then the guys leap into their first song and dance (We Are the Altar Boyz) for the gathered cameras. It’s a jumping, twisting number, welcoming Winnipeg to the final show of the ‘Raise the Praise’ tour. The Boyz harmonize and gyrate for the sake of their audience’s souls. The piece ends and the guys are covered with a light sheen of sweat. Their chests are heaving. Then they do it again. And again.

And despite 12-hour rehearsals over the past three days, the piece still sparks with energy. Three years after the satirical Altar Boyz made a sweeping run at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, these guys are pumped to be back.

“We’re so lucky that things worked out, that we get to be here with the same cast,” says Jeremy Walmsley, who plays boy band leader Matthew. He’s joined by Joseph Sevillo (Mark), Michael Lyons (Luke), Marc Devigne (Juan), and Simon Miron (Abraham, the band’s lone Jew) to fill out the cast of the 2005 Off Broadway hit. Each actor is nostalgic about the 2009 Fringe production.

“Every show sold out,” says Lyons. “We always had line ups. And the audience really got into it –”

“They got super loud,” Walmsley adds.

“Coming in for a show and having lineups stretch to the Globe, it was surreal,” Miron says. ”You do feel like a rock star doing this play.”

“It’s rare that you get a chance to do something you love twice,” says Winnipeg Studio Theatre director Kayla Gordon. With this co-production, she’s gained the budget for a full set, costumes and props – the original run was scaled down due to Fringe setup constraints. The cast has also gained the time to find a more refined, blended sound.

“We’ve switched up some of the parts to clean things up, make it more specific,” Walmsley says.

“To get five guys with different vocal training to blend, that’s hard,” Miron observes. “This time, we’re trying to sound just like the album; it forces you to lift up your performance.”

Walmsley looks at the lights and glowing stage, then smiles.

“It really feels like a concert.”

Altar Boyz runs February 23 through March 11 at Prairie Theatre Exchange renovated Portage Place location. 30 minutes before the show starts, any unsold tickets are available to students for just $10. Go to www.pte.mb.ca for more info.