Toxic love and toxic substances in The Motherf*cker with the Hat at Mainline Theatre
By Will Nye
Sometimes you come across a play that, for whatever reason, you simply cannot get out of your head. For Joshua Bilbao, producer and actor in The Motherf*cker with the Hat, this was that play.
Front, R: Kennedy Huffman-Baillergon
Back, L-R: Evan Pavlou, Joshua Bilbao
Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, an early review called it a ‘high-octane verbal cage match with the most expressive cursing since Shakespeare’. Quite the claim to fame. Indeed, with incisive commentary on addiction next to razor-sharp repartee on the foibles of love, I can understand Joshua’s obsession.
On the morning of a busy day of rehearsals, we sat down for a chat. Reading it in drama school, Joshua was struck by the play’s immediacy and sense of voice, by the ‘special way it has of making you feel the characters through the page’. In 2021, he produced one of Adly Guirgis’ earlier works, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, forming creative ties – such as with director Rahul Gandhi – that are the bedrock of this upcoming show. The Motherf*cker with the Hat was born out of a desire to highlight Guirgis’ work in Montréal, who is rarely featured in the city, and for Joshua to share what he loves so much about the playwright:
“He does something to me that I want to share.”
Left to right: Joshua Bilbao, Rehan Lalani, and Emilie Rachel.
The Motherf*cker with the Hat thrusts us into a world of toxic love and toxic substances. A now-sober dealer, Jackie, is released from prison and reunited with his still-addicted girlfriend. Discovering her infidelity brings him to blows with his holier-than-thou sponsor, whose wife also has her eye on Jackie. It is an exhilarating farce, a tale of twisted fate – yet crucially, one in which every stereotype is gleefully subverted. As is the case in life, no-one is quite as they seem.
“If you love the characters, that’s great. If you hate them, even better, tell me why.”
Left to right: Joshua Bilbao and Evan Pavlou.
The magic of The Motherf*cker with the Hat is its refusal to judge its characters, leaving all the fun up to the audience. At no point does the play tell you how to feel, and you end up ‘cheering for and hating the characters at different points in the story’. We are all multi-faceted and imperfect, and the characters on stage are no different. Addiction, hypocrisy, jealousy – these are not simple questions, so why give simple answers?
Front, left to right: Kennedy Huffman-Baillergon, Lily MacLean, Josh, Eman Bélanger, Emilie Rachel.
Back, left to right: Rahul Gandhi and Evan Pavlou.
Back to front: Emilie Rachel, Evan Pavlou.
Behind The Motherf*cker with the Hat is a team bursting with talent. A House of Actors production, Vanessa Lynn Rancourt steps in as co-producer, with the brilliant Rahul Gandhi returning as director. When speaking about the team, Joshua’s pride was clearly on show, saying that ‘we’ve given ourselves all the right tools to have a great, safe and fun production’. For example, following a rehearsal with intimacy coordinator Meagan Schroeder, Joshua spoke with a fellow actor about how great it is to feel truly comfortable in the rehearsal room. In that moment, Joshua tells me, he could see the pieces coming together, and he knew they must be doing something right.
Testament to this is the show’s fundraiser receiving the total of its $4000 goal. Joshua expressed how overwhelmed and humbled he was by such a response, trusting that ‘when it comes from a good, genuine place, people feel that.’ Rather than piling on the pressure, this level of support is a source of motivation and inspiration for everyone involved.
With months of rehearsals and years of research under its belt, this production of The Motherf*cker with the Hat is nearly ready to see the world. Running from March 12th- 17th at the ever-wonderful Mainline Theatre, it promises to be a wild ride. Buckle-in.
Watch the trailer here!
Song for Bilbao by Jazz at Mladost Club was accessed at freemusicarchive.org, and is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.