time for diplomacy is now

Tim Carlson pictured at Western Theatre Conspiracy 10th Anniversary Party.

Playwright feels time for Diplomacy is now

Vancouver Courier

Friday, October 27, 2006

By Shawn Conner

Diplomacy is the title of a new production from Western Theatre Conspiracy. But a less than diplomatic incident sparked the play.

Prior to Diplomacy's gestation, playwright Tim Carlson came across an anecdote about Prime Minister Lester Pearson getting an earful from President Lyndon Johnson. Apparently, the Canadian leader had criticized Johnson's handling of Vietnam, suggesting negotiations with that country might proceed in a more positive direction if the U.S. stopped dropping bombs on it.

"So Johnson hauls Pearson down to Camp David," says Carlson, at a West Side coffee shop. "It's just the two of them standing out by the swimming pool, with some press and aides around. And supposedly Johnson grabbed Pearson by the lapels and said, 'Don't come down here and piss on my rug.'" Piss, adds Carlson, was the then-president's defining metaphor. "He was a big brawling Texan."

The playwright liked the image of the leader of the land of the free giving the prime minister a shake. Around the same time Carlson came across that story, relations between Jean Chretien and the Bush administration were strained. "So there seemed to be some commonality," he says. As well, the 2004 U.S. election campaign was underway, and Vietnam was suddenly part of the dialogue.

"Bush hadn't gone over, and [John] Kerry was the one with the experience." Attitudes and even the history of Vietnam were being rewritten, it seemed. "These days the White House is saying, 'We did what we needed to do, we didn't lose that war, we found an honourable way out.'"

These are some of the themes Carlson has worked into Diplomacy, which, despite its subject matter, is intended to connect on an emotional level. "I didn't want to write a purely historical or political play," he says, "but one which is essentially very much a family drama, where the effects of history and contemporary politics play out on an interpersonal dynamic."

Diplomacy revolves around four characters. Roy (Keith Martin Gordey), now an historian specializing in Canadian diplomacy, deserted the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. An, the daughter of Roy's wife Thu Van, is a diplomat in Damascus. Cal (John Innes), a journalist, tries to help his friend Roy when the latter suffers a crisis after the tragic death of Thu Van. Roy's student Cal (Josh Dixon) stirs the pot by confronting his mentor.

Khaira Ledeyo, the actor who plays An, brings personal experience to the production. "The part is for a woman in her 30s who came over as a boat person from Vietnam, which is Khaira's story," says Carlson. "She was two at the time. Her mother fled. An actor that can bring that kind of personal history to the play is important, in a lot of ways."

Diplomacy marks Carlson's second full-length play produced by Western Theatre Conspiracy, the company he oversees with director Richard Wolfe. With the production, WTC enters its 10th year of bringing to Vancouver cutting-edge work like Closer, A Skull in Connemara, Blue/Orange, and Carlson's own Omniscience.

Three years after its Vancouver debut, Omniscience is finding a warm reception in Europe. A Lisbon theatre company is performing it next year, and a German translation is scheduled to be read in early December as part of the Berlin-based International Theatre Institute's dramaturgy conference.

Though set in the future, the earlier production and the modern-day Diplomacy share some themes, including what the writer calls the fallout of war. "I don't think a war is over when peace treaties are signed. There's a fallout that lasts at least two or three generations." You can see that, he says, in post-traumatic stress syndrome, which affects not only participants in war but their families and friends as well.

"I came across an article about a guy who served in Vietnam, then became a Protestant minister in Seattle," says Carlson. "He committed suicide last year because the war on terrorism footage and conversation put him back in that whole Vietnam mind frame. As tragic as that is, I think it's really telling. That idea plays a big part in this play."

Diplomacy runs Nov. 4-11 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. For more information, visit www.vecc.bc.ca

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Diplomacy

by Tim Carlson

Directed by Richard Wolfe

Nov 2nd to 11th, 2006

Western Theatre Conspiracy kicks off its 10th anniversary season with the premiere of Diplomacy presented by the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, Nov. 4-11. (The show opens Saturday November 4th, with two- for- one previews November 2 & 3, 8 pm. There is also a matinée November 11 at 4 pm. There are no performances November 5 & 6.)

Diplomacy, written by Vancouver’s Tim Carlson, delves into the heart of the most fractious debate facing the country: Are we a nation of peacekeepers or a nation of warriors? Is there a middle ground?

A conflict-fueled drama with moments of heartbreak and dark humour, Diplomacy is signature Conspiracy — a theatrical reflection on international themes that define the contemporary world.

International politics infuse the personal politics between four Canadians whose lives were defined by the Vietnam War and now struggle to position themselves in the present.

Diplomacy charts the psychological disintegration of Roy (Keith Martin Gordey), who deserted the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War to become a historian specializing in Canadian diplomacy.

Roy’s Vietnamese-born wife, Thu Van, has flashbacks to the war she experienced as a girl as the war heats up in the Middle East where her daughter, An (Khaira Ledeyo), serves as a Canadian diplomat in Damascus. Thu Van’s tragic death shakes Roy’s faith in his past, his teachings and personal philosophy. His fears spiral out of control, leading him toward violence. Roy’s best friend, Sinclair (John Innes), a journalist, tries to lead Roy back toward his pacifist convictions. Josh Dixon rounds out the cast.

“The Vietnam-era draft dodger or army deserter is a quintessentially Canadian character — as influential in the evolution of national identity as any other category of immigrant,” says playwright Tim Carlson. “They are in many respects the embodiment of how the nation saw itself in relation to the United States during the Vietnam conflict: They opted out of a war their government lied about, we welcomed them and they have made a great contribution to the country.”

A stellar design team includes David Roberts (winner outstanding set design Jessie ’06, A Skull in Connemara), Alan Brodie (nominated outstanding lighting design, A Skull in Connemara), videographer Flick Harrison (nominated special acheivement for video design Jessie ’05, Omniscience), composer and sound designer Chris Hind (Skull, Omniscience, Closer) and, joining Conspiracy for the first time, costume designer Sheila White.

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