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05.01.13 'Da Kink' goes uptown downtown
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Dalia Wright
For the first time in the history of The Princess of Wales theatre, a play is being staged which was produced in Canada for Canadian audiences. Formerly home to Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Hairspray, The Princess of Wales is presenting Trey Anthony's Da Kink In My Hair, which is set in a West Indian hair salon in Toronto and gives voice to six women who share their everyday life struggles and triumps.
The play was orignally staged at the 2001 Toronto Fringe Festival and had such immediate success that it made its rounds through the New York Fringe Festival and Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille, playing to sold out audiences at both venues. Most recently, 'Da Kink was turned into a pilot, which premiered on Vision Television last November.
The play has now been given an exceptional opportunity by Mirvish Productions to be seen by a whole new audience, and to be performed on a larger scale with a budget that is quite different to what it was produced at the Fringe. No more dollar store props or lights being operated by the director. The production company has also given this play the capacity to go from off-Broadway to a full blown Broadway production.
David Mirvish, who with his father, "Honest Ed" Mirvish, built the theatre in 1993 to seat 2,000, has reconfigured the theatre to a more intimate 1,000-seat venue for this production.
Trey Anthony, 'Da Kink's creator and lead actress, set out to write a play that would focus on the lives of Black women and authentically reflect their joy, hardships and struggles, while also incorporating her own personal story - she had just ended a seven-year relationship - and attracting news that meant something to her community. Seven months later, her now internationally renowned play was born.
In an interview with Share, Anthony said: "People identify with stories of self-worth, with stories of how a woman feels about herself as a woman, how you define yourself and your strengths."
Noting that this play would have to have broad appeal in order for Mirvish Productions to want to bring it to The Princess of Wales theatregoers, Anthony explains that it's not just for Black women.
"It crosses over on a lot of different levels, with different women, because the themes are universal. It just so happens that it is a Black play. Everybody knows what it is like to love and to have lost, to feel rejection, to feel hurt, to be betrayed. That's universal, that doesn't have any colour to it."
According to Anthony, this instalment will face issues of incest, Black-on-Black crime, "shade-ism", suicide, sexuality and in fidelity.
It's about how we feel about ourselves as Black women. It's very much connected to one's identity as a Canadian Black woman with Caribbean heritage or roots."
Unlike it's 2001 run, Da Kink has a whole new look. With music and lyrics composed by Weyni Mengesha, theatregoers will be entertained by hip-hop, raggae, as well as dub poetry and spoken word.
Comparing the Vision Television pilot to this production, Anthony said: "This play is a lot more gritty and edgy. We're dealing with a lot more serious issues. We are also exploring more characters, giving them a real voice."
Anthony is also the executive producer of 'dat girl sho' is funny, Canada's first urban women's comedy's festival. She said she is currently in talks with Sheryl Lee Ralph - who starred in VisionTV's production of Da Kink - on an American version of the play.