Title: A Night on the Town Artist: William D. Higginson Edition: Limited to 3 Medium: JPEG

THE STORY:

Having made the sagacious decision to avoid this squalid little offering in favour of a night in, reupholstering the wingback (sadly not a euphemism), imagine my despair when my editor called to inform me the producer was an old friend of hers. Apparently she had promised him a review, and that she’d get her best man on the job.

That I am her only man - in the theatre reviewer sense, at least - diminished the already diminutive honour of being handed this poisoned chalice of an assignment. I received the news with as good grace as one can muster, put down the fabric scissors, girded myself against raised hopes, and went forth into the night.

So what can one say about A Night on the Town? Other than that it is a witless, interminable farrago masquerading as “socio-political cultural commentary with a dash of satire that will leave audiences wanting more!” as the programme would have it. More of what, I am quite uncertain, as the most profound cultural commentary of the night was the gentleman beside me sneezing into his handkerchief.

The plot, as far as one can determine its existence, concerns itself with the lives of six friends (three men and three women) who must wrestle with the vicissitudes of life in West Vancouver...which, if this depiction is anything to go by, is as vicissitudinous as an evening in a well-lit parlour in comfortable bedsocks.

The main cast is augmented by the controversial inclusion of Bald Eagle, still wrestling with his own vicissitudes (or vodka and Quaaludes, if his bizarre antics brandishing an umbrella throughout proceedings are any indication).

More info here: https://williamhigginson.com/a-night-on-the-town-floral-bird-bright-surreal-painting