The best novel I read this summer was Miriam Toew’s A Complicated Kindness, and one of the best shows I saw last year was Chris Craddock’s BoyGroove.  So when I heard that Toew’s first novel, Summer of My Amazing Luck, had been adapted for the stage by Craddock, I was pretty excited. Sure enough, the script is funny and smart.  And Stephane Kirkland’s Shameless Hussy production is an absolute delight.
Like A Complicated Kindness, this is a young woman’s story. Sweet, ingenuous Lucy (Renée Iaci) is a single teenage mom. Her direct address to the audience segues seamlessly into dialogue with her mother (Thomas Jones) and father (Daune Campbell)—the cross-gender casting works beautifully—her best friend Lish (Campbell again) at the Winnipeg housing project where they live, and thirty other characters, all played in clever, lightning-quick changes by Campbell and Jones.
Lucy got herself pregnant during a bout of promiscuity after her mother’s sudden, horrible death.  Leaving her ineffectual father, she finds herself and her baby son Dill on welfare, in public housing, at the mercy of an obnoxious, condescending bureaucracy and the judgmental gaze of the better-off.
The play continually reminds us of the indignities suffered by welfare mothers but it never preaches or whines.  Lucy’s pollyanna-ish resilience sees her through every difficulty: she can face the overbearing bureaucrat at the welfare office by telling herself, “He’s water, I’m a duck’s back.”  Lish is take-no-prisoners feisty, and Toews tends to see the comical side of almost everything. “Life is not a joke,” Lucy reminds us, “but it is funny.”
The story is jam-packed with a few too many comical incidents, colourful characters like Singh Dhillon (they call him Sing because he sings … Dylan), and some darker notes.  Lucy tells us about Sarah, the incest-survivor whose kid is taken away by social services. “Isn’t that the saddest story you ever heard?” she asks. And it is.
There’s also Gotcha the clown, who loved and left Lish.  The hilarious road trip Lucy, Lish and their kids take to find him occupies much of the second act, which also deals with Lucy’s unresolved grief for her mother, her relationships with her father and her maybe-boyfriend the lawyer, and much more. These all figure in the chaotic, upbeat ending that explains the title.
The three versatile actors are simply terrific and director Kirkland finds a smart new device for every scene to up the comic ante and keep the action swirling around Lance Cardinal’s functional set, with huge help from Stephen Bulat’s witty sound design.
Shameless Hussy’s mission is “telling provocative stories about women to inspire the hand that rocks the cradle to rock the world.”  Mission accomplished, hussies.  This one definitely rocks.  
Jerry Wasserman

MY LEFT BREAST
by Susan Miller

What the critics have said...

VANCOUVER SUN PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD: BEST ACTRESS: Deb Pickman ~ My Left Breast

"Pickman is a fireball of energy...she gives her all in a performance of clarity and power."
THE VANCOUVER SUN

"…an engagingly honest play about ‘the power of love to keep chaos at bay’ and about the losses we survive."
Nanaimo Daily News

"Thought provoking theatre laced with comedic moments…moving and truthful... My Left Breast is really a story about thousands of courageous women."
THE KAMLOOPS DAILY NEWS

"With both barrels blazing, My Left Breast is upbeat and entertaining. Pickman is sizzling...reccomended viewing for anyone whose life has been affected by breast cancer and that's just about everyone."
THE VANCOUVER COURIER

My Left Breast has earned an Obie Award and The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for the best play in the English speaking theatre written by a woman.



WOMAN IDIOT LUNATIC CRIMINAL
by the hussy collective

What our critics and audiences have said...

"Telling provocative stories about women to inspire the hand that rocks the cradle to rock the world…
Woman Idiot Lunatic Criminal gets right to the heart of the matter."
GEORGIA STRAIGHT

"This has to be one of the most moving and informative, entertaining, brilliant plays I have been to. I felt very empowered after the play, very energized to be more active in the women’s’ movement…
...young women like me need this inspiration."
Kay Sangha, Audience Member

"shameless hussy specializes in potent, original, issue oriented theatrical productions..."
THE PROVINCE

It makes me feel so good to know you are out there doing this kind of work. It's a very good thing. Thank you.
Shanda Walters, Educator

"Funny while sensitive and utterly sincere…brings the past into the present."
THE GLOBE AND MAIL

"Kudos! I thoroughly enjoyed the fast paced action and was impressed by the vivacity and versatility of the actors… the music was superb and period perfect. …well done. This was my first experience with shameless hussy productions but it certainly won't be my last. Thank you."
Eileen Edwards, Audience Member

"Editors Choice"
VANCOUVER MAGAZINE

"Daring, entertaining and even educational…"
THE VANCOUVER COURIER



THE DRUNKEN LIFE OF CALAMITY JANE
by Brian Peterson in cahoots with Deb Pickman and Renee Iaci

What the critics said...

“truly inspiring”
C.B.C. RADIO

“A remarkable & unforgettable performance”
Alan Kellog, THE EDMONTON JOURNAL

“This ferocious one woman show is feisty, smart and outrageous...Calam springs to life with furious glee.”
THE VICTORIA TIMES COLONIST

“A portrait of a hellion, a revisionist look at history,
and a satire of academia rolled into one...so brilliantly conceived that every line warrents a mention...the audience can’t help cheering and screaming with laughter.”
THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT

“Never was a bender this much fun!”
THE SASKATOON STAR PHOENIX

“Grabs the audience by the throat and doesn’t let go.”
THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

“( Pickman is ) a profane, spitting, blasphemous wonder. She deserves every curtain call she gets.”
Marc Horton, THE EDMONTON JOURNAL



BONNIE DANGEROUSLY:
fast times with that guy Clyde
by Jaques Lalonde with Renee Iaci and Tom Jones

What the critics said...

“THIS BONNIE REMINDS US OF A HURRICANE ...
Here’s a show that has it all: great performances,
fine production, tight script...a whirling dervish of a show.”
THE VICTORIA TIMES COLONIST

“Fantastic performances from Iaci & Jones
who play dozens of characters with seemless transitions...I loved it!”
C.B.C. RADIO

“This company knows how to create viscerally exciting theatrical shows....Renee Iaci and Tom Jones deliver masterful performances.”
THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT

“Bonnie gets her gun and blazes her way through a great piece of storytelling.”
THE SASKATOON STAR PHOENIX

“Jones and Iaci set a pace that shames the Molson Indy.”
THE VANCOUVER COURIER

“A slick, fast-paced, tires a-screechin’, bullets a-flyin’ chunk of energetic storytelling, handeled with talented grace by a pair of powerhouse actors.”
THE EDMONTON SUN

“If you see only one show this year this is the one!”
THE CRAIG