A Trip to Utah, Saturday's Voyeur, and my Absence Explained

I was out of town for four days, in Farmington, Utah, visiting Mrs. Disaster's family. I was unable to post during my vacation, but now I am back and hoping to get on with daily updates.

While in Utah, I had the opportunity to see a play a the Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC), and the topic of today's post.

The play, called Saturday's Voyeur, is an annual performance presented by SLAC that lampoons the previous year of headlines, news and culture of Salt Lake City and Utah in general. The name is a parody of Saturday's Warrior a well known LDS (aka Mormon) play. The event has been held every year since 1978. Mrs Disaster has a friend who appeared as several characters in this year's performance.

As someone not especially familiar with Utah, Mormonism, and the local politics of both, I feared that I'd be sitting in the audience (front row, no less) slack jawed and ignorant of the jokes while the rest of the audience roared with laughter. It is a testament to the writing that I found myself howling right along side the locals more often than not. The play does a good job of introducing and setting up characters, giving the viewer enough context to enjoy the subsequent barrage of jokes, references and innuendos. While I know I didn't get every single joke, there was enough there for me to thoroughly enjoy the two and a half hours I spent in the theater. Heaping helpings of single, double and triple entendre, as well as liberal doses of slapstick help the uninitiated enjoy the play as well.

The gist of Saturday's Voyeur '07: the Rocky Show, deal with the imminent exit of liberal Mayor Ross C. 'Rocky' Anderson and his battles with the state house, governor, city council and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka the 800 lb. gorilla). Actor Kevin Doyle portrays Anderson as a man who keeps his chin up through all adversity. Doyle plays the character with a tongue firmly planted in cheek, and while I don't know much about the real Anderson, by the end of the play I was rather fond of the fictional Anderson. The politics are decidedly left wing (as is Anderson), but in a state as conservative as Utah, a send-up of local and regional politics is practically required to be left-liberal. The writers obviously have a lot of affection for Anderson, but he does get some shots thrown at him as well.

The rest of the cast was very funny as well and thought everyone had standout moments. If you find yourself in Salt Lake City between now and August 12th I think you should check it out. Below is a slide show preview of Saturday's Voyeur.