Albertans go to the polls on November 22nd to elect their provincial government. It’s quite a coincidence that Premier Ralph Klein is running for his final term in office at the same time as Bruce Chambers’ "Dear Mr. Klein" takes center stage at the Pumphouse Theatre.

"It’s not preplanned in the least," laughed Steve Gin, Creative Director of Teatro Berdache, who plays ‘Christopher.’ "We booked the space back in February and have been working on the play and trying to find funding for three years. Ralph Klein has done a nice thing for us with free publicity now, but it was a total fluke."

The fictional play is inspired by actual events that happened to Chambers. The story takes place at the time of the deliberation of the notwithstanding clause regarding the Delwin Vriend decision.

"Bruce had written to Klein and said that as a gay man he felt it was reprehensible that the Alberta Government would use the clause. He got a reply with someone from rural Alberta’s letter in it, and that man got the response to Bruce’s letter. They never met, but Bruce came up with the idea ‘what if they had?’ So my character receives a letter from Roy Gates in Sundry, and is writing to Klein to get his own letter back when Roy turns up on his doorstep and asks a lot of questions about what its like to be gay. It opens some doors to discussion, confrontation and compromise on the issue of gay rights and what it means to be a gay man."

The show has received early buzz from the gay community. A staged reading of the script was held during pride a few years ago that received positive feedback. Gin feels that it will appeal to both a gay and straight audience.

"As much as it has been touted as a political play it is really a play about two men in crises and is a very human story. I am not letting out any secrets by saying that Roy from rural Alberta is grappling with his own sexuality, and both men are deeply homophobic in their own way of dealing with their own sexuality. Christopher, the openly gay character, pretends he has no issues but Roy really flushes them out. There is an incredible amount of conflict that happens but also forgiveness and compromise when they sort through it."

The show has really developed from the original concept.

"Bruce has been developing it for a long time and its really evolved. The thing I love so much about it is the development of the character of Roy. When Bruce first started writing the script it was a morality play of the bad rural man against the good urban gay man. He has really fleshed out those characters to have strengths and weaknesses. They do have the potential to hurt each other and to heal each other so it has become a lovely play in that way. It’s a slice of life, a serio-comedy. There are those funny moments of flirtation when two people are attracted to each other and say stupid silly things. As their buttons get pushed and they aggravate each other it gets more and more dramatic and violent. One of the things the play does is examine man’s potential for violence against each other. It’s a human play that crosses all of the spectrums."

Dear Mr. Klien runs November 3rd – 13th at 8:00pm (excluding Nov 8th) at the Pumphouse Theatre.

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Contributor Jason Clevett |

Locale Calgary |

Topic Theatre |