Originally slated to debut mid-2023, Same Time Next Week, a “puppet musical about D&D and cancer”, seems to have got the timing just right for its 2024 premiere at The Blue Room Theatre. The stellar creative team behind STNW has managed a sell-out season and received an outpouring of audience love for this much-anticipated show that celebrates life, death, community, and storytelling.
Writer-Director Scott McArdle has joined forces with Puppetry Directors Amberly Cull and Nick Pages-Oliver and Composer-Director Jackson Griggs [gee that’s a lot of high-powered hyphenatin’ goin’ on] to create something you could easily call magical; and in fact, I will. STNW is so full of that m-word in all of its components, the music, the puppetry, the performances, the story, that you can’t help but wonder if some kind of strange alchemy is at work. To turn a real-life experience of losing a friend to leukemia into a beautiful, silly, artful, raunchy, geeky, and, dare I say it, educational independent musical that has the RPG community coming out to the theatre in droves (and maybe even casting spells outside Bluey to get a last-minute cancelled ticket)? MAGIC.
D&D and other TTRPGs have eluded me most of my life and I have never had a clear idea of just what exactly happens when you get a group together to do this thing. I’ve even had lengthy conversations with aficionados about what’s involved, how it works, and why it’s fun. My biggest question has always been, “Why don’t you just do theatre?” From the outside, it kinda sounds like theatre: role-playing, right? That’s theatre. I couldn’t understand why you wouldn’t want to just get up on stage and make/do a show if you really loved playing roles so much.
I didn’t get it, but now I do. McArdle et al. have done what no other documentary, TV show, movie, or Saturday morning cartoon has been able to do (for me, at least). They’ve opened a huge window into the process of playing the game as well as the imaginary fantasy world evoked through gameplay (and why it’s fun). Everything I’ve been exposed to about D&D has been about one or the other, but not both at the same time. The STNW team have truly enlightened me as to why you wouldn’t “just do theatre” if you like RPGs. But not only that, they’ve demonstrated how you could do both, even simultaneously, if you dream big enough and gather the right kind of party to fulfill that quest.
Griggs’s songs were catchy, fun, and musically challenging, accommodating all kinds of vocal styles and allowing for performer individuality, character, and authenticity. McArdle’s script provided much-needed ‘education’ to indoctrinate the neophytes, but included both in-jokes for the initiates and howlers for all. The hard parts, the emotional, inevitable stuff that was written through this experience, McArdle has lovingly honoured and shared through this unique tribute.
The puppetry designed/created by Bryan Woltjen and Jesse Michael Wood is excellent – so richly imagined and crafted, and I seriously considered stealing the giant eye on my way out the theatre door. The ensemble cast (Nick Pages-Oliver, Amberly Cull, Courtney Henri, Tristan McInnes, and Daniel Buckle) live, breathe, and play through every element of the show, with or without a puppet in hand. I’m sure there have been countless happy accidents each night, given the strong improv roots amongst them all. The shadow puppetry was an unexpected delight, allowing a flashback within a fantasy, creating yet another level to the show’s multiverse. And of course, I couldn’t possibly wrap this up without mentioning the puppet cloaca sex scene. There.
Ultimately, STNW clearly seems like a love letter to the power of community and strength in numbers. And, when we reflect on the trajectory of projects McArdle has helmed, the teams he’s gathered, and the ways he’s interfaced with the public and fellow artists through The Blue Room, it’s clear McArdle seems to have more than just a knack for creating community…you could even say he’s a Master….
CICELY BINFORD
Same Time Next Week was presented at The Blue Room Theatre from 13 -31 August 2024. The team welcomes everyone to a closing night party on the 31st, even if you didn’t get a ticket to this sold-out season, and a cast recording is in the works, so keep an eye on https://www.facebook.com/scottmcardleartist/ or https://www.instagram.com/scottmcardleartist/ for updates.
