Broken Sex Doll, the sci-fi musical sex comedy from The Virtual Stage, returns to Vancouver with its love story set in a tech-heavy/morals-lite future where anything goes.
[pullquote]”Everyone wants to have sex, everyone wants to get off, but no one talks about it. So when you start talking about it or heaven forbid, doing it on stage, it starts to be a really ridiculous and funny situation.” – Andy Thompson[/pullquote]“There is no moral structure to the universe in this show and that’s been very freeing for me” says Andy Thompson, Artistic and Managing Director of the Virtual Stage and creator and director of Broken Sex Doll. “I’ve got a great excuse to do whatever I want, and of course I’m doing it very thoughtfully, but I have to embrace the fact that the ethical, moral, and social fabric that we value today is not present in the world of this show.”
Pulling from sources such as Blade Runner, Logan’s Run, and the little known Brainstorm, Thompson knits together a world obsessed with sex to the point where the “feelies” of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and the pleasure models of Blade Runner merge and are taken to their logical conclusion.
“Part of what I’ve done with the Virtual Stage as a company is to look at trends, whether good or bad, and play around in my imagination with them” says Thompson. “In Broken Sex Doll I’m playing the movie out regarding advanced technology and social decline. As a way of exploring where we’re at today both socially and ethically.”
Taking the comedian’s trick of thinking the unthinkable or saying the unsayable and pushing it one step further, the world of Broken Sex Doll allows Thompson to do the “undoable” on stage.
“I think there’s value in bringing certain of those things that are under the surface to the surface” he says. “That’s what makes people laugh. Everyone’s feeling that. Like sex. Everyone wants to have sex, everyone wants to get off, but no one talks about it. So when you start talking about it or heaven forbid, doing it on stage, it starts to be a really ridiculous and funny situation.”
First imagined as part of Theatre Under the Gun in 2011, Broken Sex Doll has gone on to be nominated for seven Jessie awards and six Ovation awards, winning two and was selected to take part in the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. Thompson credits the show’s success to his audience-centric approach.
“It hasn’t been created with any sort of political agenda or selfish artistic agenda. The guideline for this show was, ‘whatever’s the funniest’. It wasn’t the most logical or the most sophisticated; it was what will cause people to laugh the most,” he says. “I was like, what are you doing to serve the audience? Not what are you doing to serve yourself, but how are you serving the audience? So I went into Broken Sex Doll with the idea that I really want to serve the audience and entertain people and make people laugh. That was my main goal. To make people laugh – at any cost.”
Broken Sex Doll plays the York Theatre (639 Commercial Dr) November 12-22. Visit https://thecultch.com for tickets and information.