Legoland, Where Bricks Are For Kids

By Alan Hindle

Wednesday March 19, 2008

Torn from their parents’ Hippie commune, young Penny and Ezra Lamb struggle to cope with the horrors of high school and the snap-together values and plastic people of the real world, which they refer to as “Legoland.” Penny finally discovers love in the lead heartthrob of boy band 7-Up, only to have it crushed with his foul-mouthed hop-hip comeback solo album featuring chainsaw rape. So, she and her demented brother embark on a road trip to Florida to confront him with love and a mean ukulele, bankrolling their journey dealing from their abundant supply of prescription drugs.

Celine Stubel as Penny is a black-bobbed hellion with a heart of tinsel and lace soaked in gasoline. She appears ready at any moment to simultaneously dissolve into tears of angst-ridden love or burst into flames of righteous confusion. Ezra, a miniature Edgar Allan Poe in a black cape, is that terrifying little boy you used to babysit who could turn pancake mix into a fragile explosive if you didn’t let him watch Muppet Babies.

The show is phenomenal. Every line a throwaway zinger, every scene an instant favourite until the next comes along. Stubel and Amitai Marmorstein, playing Penny and Ezra Lamb, never falter nor miss a beat of an intense, complex and deceptively complicated show. I watched Legoland with a broken rib, the pain of laughing nearly killing me, which just made it the more sweet.

Also useful to know, high school students get in for five bucks!

March 18 – 22, 2008 at 8:00pm at Performance Works, 1218 Cartwright Street Granville Island. www.rumble.org