Jamie Sarkonak: The Regina theatre that put on a bawdy LandBack play for students

Photo by Christina Ryan/Calgary Herald

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The Regina school that sent its students to a LandBack smut-on-stage “courtroom comedy” earlier this week quickly realized its mistake. It had a good excuse, at least: in a letter to parents after the fact, it explained that the performing arts theatre had indicated that the production was age-appropriate. Indeed, the theatre’s website does not mention the part where a drag queen plays a gyrating, rump-thrusting, boob-jiggling version of Queen Elizabeth II in an underbust corset.

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But what about the law firm that sponsored the performance in the first place? It had to know where its money was going. Why this?

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It’s clear that the play in question, Little Red Warrior And His Lawyer, is not appropriate for kids. That much is visible from the videos that were circulated on social media on Wednesday by Just Bins, a Saskatchewan garbage company that also does local news reporting. Just Bins posted a copy of the permission slip students filled out to attend, as well as the message to parents afterward. The school confirmed to the Post on Thursday that these communications were authentic.

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“Today’s production aligned with the curriculum as it was a satirical farce meets romantic comedy,” reads the letter to parents. “The materials provided by (the theatre) stated the production was rated for students aged 14+ due to mature content. As the play progressed, the production reached levels of maturity beyond expectations, and we made the decision to leave early based on our professional discretion.”

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As of Thursday, the theatre’s website states that the play has “mature themes” and “sexual humour,” and recommends an audience of 16 and up. Their summary: “In this courtroom comedy the last member of the Little Red Warrior First Nation isn’t here to play by the rules. When Red discovers a condo development tearing into his ancestral land, he fights back — literally. What follows is a wild collision of justice, Trickster mischief, and unexpected romance. Red moves in with his court-appointed lawyer Larry… and Larry’s wife Desdemona, who soon starts seeing Red in a whole new light.” Unfortunately for the poor teachers who arranged the fateful outing, the raunchy aspects of the play didn’t make it into the description.

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One clip taken from the stands of the performance shows a male character in lawyers’ robes bending over and putting his face close to the drag queen’s protruding rear, as if to sniff or kiss it. Another shows the drag queen doing a handstand backed against a pole and spreading their legs wide apart while crying out, lustily, “Oh, you make me want to separate like I’m Danielle Smith!”; in that shot, guests can be seen leaving the theatre — these are described in the video as Grade 9s.

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I haven’t seen the whole play, but I don’t need to. The production at one point involves a drag queen moaning out sexual lines while winding up against a pole like a stripper, dressed in a skimpy bodice that leaves the breasts free to flop around under the cover of sheer black mesh and nipple stickers of the English or British flag. It’s a bawdy stage performance for adults (one review floating around the internet remarks that it was a hit among its audience of “inherently middle-aged and senior Caucasians”). I’d expect it to run in the evening of a theatre festival, after the families have gone home.