PORNOGRAPHY by Simon Stephens
Previews: April 28 @ 8pm | Opening: April 29, 30 @ 8pm
May 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14 @ 8pm and May 1, 7, 8, 14 @ 2pm
Pornography is Simon Stephens’ stark and shattering new play that powerfully captures a portrait of a fractured, insecure Britain. Written in reaction to London crashing from the euphoria and promise at being awarded the 2012 Olympics into the chaos and reality of the 7/7 bombings, the play is composed of seven stories that serve as a countdown to the catastrophic attack on London. Each playlet focuses on a different individual dramatizing their life in the run-up to the tragedy.
“If the action of a play is purely to confirm the audience’s prejudices and in a sense to flatter them, that is actually quite a conservative gesture, and I want to do the opposite,” the 40-year-old Londoner Simon Stephens is quoted as saying. “I don’t actively want to upset people or annoy them, but as a recipient of art, I’ve always enjoyed the process of being unsettled, unnerved.”
“A remarkable kaleidoscopic portrait of a London that moved in a few days from the euphoria of Live 8 and the Olympics announcement to the devastation of the July 7 bombings. This is a play of grace and terror.” —The Guardian, London
BEAR ME STIFFLY UP by Ellen Arrand
ONE MAN HAMLET adapted from Shakespeare by Clayton Jevne
(A Double Bill)
Previews: May 31 & June 2 @ 8pm
June 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18 @ 8pm and June 5, 12 @ 2pm
Bear Me Stiffly Up: Kate is retreating into fantasy. Phillip is fantasizing retreat. And together they must trouble-shoot both a marriage and an international tour of Phillip’s one-actor version of Hamlet. Award-winning writer Ellen Arrand takes us on a “behind-the-scenes” humourous and insightful look into sexy, soulful, and “Where do I fit in?!”
One-Man Hamlet: created and performed by Clayton Jevne’s has been described as:
“Amazing” (Georgia Straight, Vancouver),
“Ingenious” (The Herald, Edinburgh, Scotland),
“Mind boggling” (Orlando Sentinel),
“An enormous talent” (CBC Ottawa),
“Clever and dizzying” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis),
“Brilliant… remarkable” (Vancouver Sun),
“Amazing… superb” (Winnipeg Free Press),
“Leaves you wanting more” (Edmonton Journal).
Since 1991, tens of thousands have seen this touring production. After seven years in storage, Clayton remounts this show for a 20th anniversary performance. Others have followed suit, but this is the original solo Hamlet!
SHINING CITY by Conor McPherson
Previews: Sept 20th, 22nd @ 8pm | Opening: Friday Sept 23rd @ 8pm
Sept 24, 28, 29, (No show on Friday 30th) Oct 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 @ 8pm and Sept 24, 25, Oct 1, 2, 8 @ 2pm
Shining City opened at the Royal Court in 2004 and prompted the London Telegraph to describe him as “the finest dramatist of his generation…” It subsequently opened on Broadway in 2006 and was nominated for two Tony Awards, including Best Play.
In Dublin, a man seeks help from a counselor, claiming to have seen the ghost of his recently deceased wife. But what begins as just an unusual encounter becomes a struggle between the living and dead — a struggle that will shape and define both men for the rest of their lives.
“Shining City is as close to perfection as contemporary playwriting gets… quiet, haunting and absolutely glorious.” —New York Times
“His sentences are better, his sentiments more developed than many Booker Prize-winners. He is terrific.” —Observer
“At his best Conor McPherson is a writer who combines great character comedy with a real sense of pathos. And this is Conor McPherson at his very best … Guilt, sex and therapy with a script from acting heaven. Shining City is certainly Conor McPherson’s writing at its most inspired.” —Daily Mail
LOVE KILLS by Kyle Jarrow at Phoenix Theatre, UVIC
Previews: Oct 11, 12, 13, 14 @ 8pm | Opening: Oct 13 @ 8pm
Oct 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 at 8pm and Oct 22 @ 2pm
OBBIE Award-winning playwright Kyle Jarrow’s rock musical is offered as the Spotlight on Alumni season opener for the Phoenix Theatre. The songs support a thought-provoking script, intensifying the emotional impact of great storytelling. The setting is the Midwestern United States. Sherriff Merle Karnopp and his wife Gertrude are under pressure from the FBI to obtain confessions from teenage lovers, Charlie Starkweather and Caril Fugate, for the killing of eleven people. Based on a true story, Love Kills (the inspiration for the movies: Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers and Terrence Malick’s Badlands) is a moving and disturbing examination of criminal behaviour, as all four characters are forced to examine — and ultimately assume responsibility for — their own actions and responses.
“It’s definitely good… Kudos to Inconnu… Go see it… you certainly won’t be disappointed” — Monday Magazine
“Everyone sings well… bobbed and boogied with relaxed joie de vivre… Love Kills stands as a compelling and entertaining production.” —Times Colonist
A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG by Peter Nichols
Previews: Nov 29, Dec 1 @ 8pm | Opening: Dec 2 @ 8pm
Dec 3, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17 @ 8pm and Dec 3, 4, 10, 11, 17 @ 2pm
Peter Nichols’ Tony Award Winning play has done a masterful job of treading a fine line between the absurd and the universally familiar; as he tells the tale of a family coping with life that has been defined by their daughter’s severe disability. This drama/comedy is a far cry from the didacticism usually associated with “issue” plays.
It is an intensely alive and vibrant interaction of people who care deeply, but who have not yet absorbed their own circumstances. “All the way through the play Nichols walks a tightrope between black humour and heartbreak, and never slips once. There is a heart beating at the centre, all the while taboos are being smashed.” —BBC TV
“Impossible not to melt in empathy.” —New York Times