Five-hole action

You are bound to be entertained when you get to see a play that blends the rough and sweaty world of hockey with, well, the rough and sweaty world of sex. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Five Hole: Tales of Hockey Erotica presented by One Yellow Rabbit.
Five Hole is based on the short stories of author and musician Dave Bidini. The stories started out in the early ’90s when a friend asked Bidini to do some erotic readings. He wrote an erotic hockey story and the piece went so well he did it again the next year.
Bidini got to know One Yellow Rabbit through the theatre company’s High Performance Rodeo cabaret. He mentioned he had some erotic hockey stories and the idea of doing a play about them came up.
The play was adapted by Bidini and director Blake Brooker who said it was a “natural evolution” to turn the stories into a play. The idea of a book came after the adaptation and was published as The Five Hole Stories.
Five Hole premiered at last year’s High Performance Rodeo in January. It is currently on a cross-Canada tour with a one night only performance in Calgary on Feb. 16.
Five Hole has been described by One Yellow Rabbit as, “a new show that brings Canada’s two favorite pastimes, hockey and sex together at last on one rollicking theatre stage.”
As for his direction, Brooker said he tried to keep the play simple and work with the humour of the stories.
“I think there are really light, touching stories,” he said. “It’s (hockey) our national sport and we don’t’ have a lot of entertainment about it.”
Bidini said that in a hockey sense, Five Hole tells stories that you don’t usually hear. An example in Five Hole is a goalie that has homosexual feelings for a fellow teammate.
“There is a gay hockey culture but you certainly won’t hear about it on Coach’s Corner,” he said.
Five Hole also includes music by Bidini’s Five Hole band.
“Essentially the program was always going to have musical components,” Brooker said.
Bidini said that Five Hole is a play that you don’t have to be a hockey fan to enjoy but he, “planted a couple of jokes that someone who really knows their hockey would take pleasure in.”
No one knows hockey better than NHL hockey players. Brooker said former Calgary Flames goalie Mike Vernon attended last year’s showing and that his wife purchased the original art from the show.
The One Yellow Rabbit features an ensemble cast of Denise Clarke, Andy Curtis, Michael Green, Onalea Gilbertson and Richard McDowell.
Five Hole plays Monday, Feb. 16 at the Jack Singer Concert Hall.
For ticket info check out oyr.org.