Generations clash and elicit laughs, as a young female college student moves in with her film professor grandfather, in a new production of The Grandkid, by John Lazarus.
When Julius, the recently widowed elder, finds out his granddaughter, Abby, is going to attend the university he teaches at, he offers his home for her to stay at as a way to cut down on her costs and sees it as a nice bonding experience.
However, Julius soon finds Abby is not interested in his film interests or Judaism, and complicating matters more, is the fact his granddaughter is dating the organizer of a Palestinian activist group.
Playwright Lazarus, points out, that although the set up touches on a sensitive issue, it is not a political play, rather it is a comical one.
“I was looking for something that would drive the grandfather crazy,” he said of the play, which opens tonight (Wednesday).
“It’s a bit of a social experiment. As always in theatre, she’s got her own baggage, he’s got his own baggage, and they collide in different ways,” he said.
Lazarus, who trained at the National Theatre School, wound up working in Vancouver as an actor and instructor at Studio 58 at Langara College before a career as a playwright and professor at Queens University, said he has wanted to return to the area with a new play, and now he has.
“I have been here (Kingston, Ont.) for 14 years, and one of my dreams was to come back to the Vancouver area with a new play, to be able to say, ‘hello I’m still here, I’m still doing this’ so I get to do that, and the play has just been published as a paperback book by Playwrights Canada press.
“I’m hoping it will make people come out of it feeling good about their own generation and other generations, and there’s a lot of laughs,” said Lazarus, who also aims to break down some of the stereotypes based on different age groups.
The Grandkid runs April 9 - 26. Go to gatewaytheatre.com for tickets or call 604 270 1812.
