'It's a Privilege to Pee'
If you think the most biting political discussions on corruption, the environment, capitalism, capital punishment, law and order, and social justice are being played out in The Bee, on OpinionTalk, in the Valley's city halls and executive offices, well your list would be one short.
Add Fresno State's John Wright Theater to the list, where the satirical melodrama "Urinetown" is rocking the house. It takes place in a future city where a 20-year-drought and poor ecological habits have made the city so desperate for water that private toilets become illegal. Communal public toilets are built in each neighborhood, and everybody has to pay to use them. There are long lines, the poor neighborhoods have the most wretched of urinals and, you are arrested and severely punished if you cannot afford to pay or if the line is just tooooo long. Public urination carries, well, very serious consequences. The poor are chided for their nastiness in a biting musical parody in the first act called, "It's a Privilege to Pee." The premise is outrageous -- yet not a total stretch for folks like us, who have watched the water table steadily drop over the years. Makes you wonder, what if . . .
Lyrics: "I run the only toilet In this part of town, you see. So, if you've got to go, you've got to go through me. It's a privilege to pee."
The public urinals become "privatized" under the ownership of one evil and corrupt businessman, who pays off his buddies in the Legislature to invoke a tax on the urinals so people have to pay even more. Kickbacks ensue, of course, and all the politicians want to do is make sure they are on a junket to Rio when people react to the new tax.
This is a dagger of a commentary, but the knife goes in so smoothly that you don't realize your conscience has been stabbed until until it's too late. The playwright uses a truckload of comedic tools to make its point, especially spoofs of Broadway shows like "Les Miserables" and "Annie" and "Evita" and even a scene from "Titanic." Somehow you even find yourself laughing during a Patty Hearst-like setup where the daughter of the evil executive is kidnapped, and she takes up the cause of the latrine liberators. There's also a great rebellion scene where the weapons are toilet plungers, pipes and toilet brushes.
Don't miss the fun. It plays at 8 p.m. today and Saturday, John Wright Theatre, 278-2216. Tickets are $17, $15 seniors, students, faculty and staff, $10 Fresno State students. (Oh, and even though the power of suggestion is really strong, there was no waiting line for the ladies room. Whew!) Here's a story about it by The Bee's Donald Munro. Just click here.
Comments
I don't suppose our resident right-wingers will see anything wrong with the scenario depicted in the play. Sounds like a capitalist paradise!
Posted by: Mike D. | May 8, 2008 3:23 PM
We have to pay for toilet paper. All is fair game for profit in America.
Posted by: Rich | May 8, 2008 4:00 PM
Not quite my cup of tea to go to a play all about pee. To pee or not to pee.
Posted by: Jackie Krage | May 8, 2008 6:05 PM
Mike(D) It sounds more like Universal Health Care.
Posted by: Brian Murray | May 9, 2008 6:45 AM