Wasps

by Sally Clark

WASPs is one of those plays where the whole is quite literally much greater than the sum of its parts—so much so that it becomes, in retrospect, the subject of the play, “what the play is about,” and that doesn’t hit you until you are half-way home after a fun evening of bizarre, exotic, and hilarious entertainment. Although signified only by one minor character in the play, described by the head librarian as “one of our multicultural patrons” (and, of course, by the rather more obvious acronym of the title itself), this is a play about the elements of our constructed tribal identities: incest, fashion, fetishism, style, populist art, amateur psychobabble, and a fearful, murderous fascination with the other, hovering behind the cupboards over the sink, in the basements of suburbia, and in the filing cabinets of your local travel agent.

Cast of 4 women and 2 men.

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Sally Clark is a playwright, filmmaker and painter. She is the author of several plays, which include “Moo,” “The Trial of Judith K.,” “Jehanne of the Witches” and “Life Without Instruction.” Her plays have received a Chalmers Award, two Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations and a Governor General’s Award nomination.

In 1992, Sally Clark was a Resident at the Canadian Film Centre where she wrote and directed her short film, “Ten ways to abuse an old woman.” It won the Special Prix du Jury at the Henri Langlois International short film festival. Her short film, “The Art of Conversation” won the Bronze Award for Best Dramatic Short at the Worldfest Charleston Festival.

Reviews

[Kira]

There’s this particular type of Canadian 1990s semi-absurd theatre that’s like “political correctness, am I right??”, and the characters (none of whom are likeable) speak to each other in this weird presentational way, and you wonder if, beyond not aging well, there was something crucial in the physicality of the show that made it work in its own time, because the written script just reads like someone trying too hard to deconstruct farce, or something like that.
In short, meh.