Conversations with Creators: Marcus Williams
Meet Marcus Williams, who plays “Man” in 52 Pickup
Tell us your favourite part of this process in 52 words or less
This show is like dissecting a past relationship; in the moment, you don’t understand what went wrong, but looking back, it’s as clear as a freshly cleaned fish-tank. I also enjoy adding our own context to the scenes; making the line “F*** you” mean, “I love you”, gives the scene new meaning.
What’s your best relationship horror story?
This was the worst first date I ever had:
We were driving in the city, on our way to go bowling. Sitting in traffic, I then notice the fated red and blue lights behind me. I do what any good drive should; I pull over to let the emergency vehicle pass, but the squad car pulled up behind me. “I was just sitting in traffic what on earth could I have done wrong.” I thought, as I watched the officer stay sat in his car, waiting… but for what? I looked over at <girl’s name>*, seeing the fearful-wonder dance in her eye. I can only imagine what was going through her mind. As I watched the look on her face shift with her opinion of me, her checks began to glow red, and blue, as the light of a second police car pulled in front of me, and a third boxing me to the curb. “... I wonder what in did… haha”, was the nervous joke I tried to tell to cut the tension. The hot and cold lights dancing on every side as four ‘boys in blue’ got out of their vehicles in unison. I turn the interior light of my car, in attempt to communicate that I had nothing to hide. They were vultures, carefully scanning the outside of my vehicle, one hand shinning their torches in the wheel wells of my car, the other resting on their firearm, expecting the worst. The words: license and proof of ownership, flowed through my open window. ‘Proof of ownership’, that’s not the usual phrase… I hand over what was requested. The officer looks them over, with visible confusion on his face goes back to his squad car. At this point I forgot I was on a date and that <girl’s name> was still in the car. When the officer returned he carefully explained to me the reason I was surrounded by cops; they mistyped my license plate when they were running random vehicles, and thought I was driving a stolen car with swapped plates. <Girl’s name> and I didn’t see each other again.
*name removed for anonymities sake
What card game best sums up your life?
Probably a competitive game Go Fish, where we are gambling Monopoly money, but some of the cards in my hand are Uno cards, and someone at the table is playing blackjack instead, and I’m still doing alright - my strategy is paying off, well it would be if Kati would stop TOTALLY CHEATING!! I CAN SEE THE THREE OF CLUBS IN YOUR HAND!! IT’S RIGHT THERE!!! <Insert swear word>!!!!!
*Calms down*
I guess my point is, maybe this ‘life as a game of cards’ analogy is right; maybe life is just a pointless game, that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if people cheat (Kati), or are playing by different rules, or the cards in your had suck, cause there is no one way to live your life, you just gotta get yourself some friends, and play together and make the best of it. It reminds me of one of my favourite songs from a band called, ‘The Homeless Gospel Choir’. The song is called ‘Slow Down the Time’ and it goes a little something like this:
I’m not complaining of days left behind, I’m just looking for something to slow down the time.
So remember, after we’re gone, however much Monopoly money you’ve got doesn’t matter, all that matters is if you came to see ’52 Pickup’ by TJ Dawe and Rita Bozi at artsPlace in Canmore, September 18th-22nd!