Actress and writer Carmen Aguirre has been touring her show Blue Box off and on for two years. Returning home to Vancouver, she finds herself at the Arts Club Revue Stage, a venue that was once home to musical revues like Ain’t Misbehavin’ or musical comedies like Angry Housewives, and now where the Arts Club Theatre Company is programming edgier work, for more daring audiences.
[pullquote]Certainly the opening lines of Blue Box shocked some audience members when they discovered the ‘box’ in the title is not to be taken literally, and the show is definitely not about recycling. Rather, Blue Box is a journey to a new and thrilling world.[/pullquote]Ms. Aguirre is a passionate woman unafraid to speak about her moral convictions. A former Chilean revolutionary, she doesn’t just takes us into a world most of us are did not know existed, she vividly plunges us into the terror and thrills of espionage, as well as the passion that would drive a person to try an overthrow a government. She weaves this with her more carnal adventures as she meets her ‘dream man’ from her life as an actress, as well as another ‘child of the revolution’.
As the stories breathlessly and skillfully weave back and forth between the two themes, the audience is at one moment rolling with laughter and the next holding their breath. When an audience member is brought up on stage (yours truly on opening night) to recreate a pro-government agent that tails her, you admire her bravery and question your own.
Certainly the opening lines of Blue Box shocked some audience members when they discovered the ‘box’ in the title is not to be taken literally, and the show is definitely not about recycling. Rather, Blue Box is a journey to a new and thrilling world.
Blue Box written and performed by Carmen Aguirre. Directed by Brian Quirt. An Arts Club Theatre Company presentation. On stage at the Revue Stage (1601 Johnston St, Granville Island) until November 1. Visit https://artsclub.com for tickets and information.