 |
| Fourth-year acting students Jamie Galbraith and Jonny Thompson plays the Martins in The Bald Soprano. (Nick Pearce Photo) |
DalTheatre Productions is setting the stage for its new 2010-2011 season, a repertoire of delightfully off-kilter plays, Called "Through the Looking Glass," the season has been organized around the theme of reflection and commences with two one-act plays by Eug猫ne Ionesco.
The connection between the plays -- Ionesco鈥檚 one-acts, Into the Woods, The Country Wife and The Madwoman of Chaillot -- is the "topsy-turvy, exaggerated worlds" that they depict, says Roberta Barker, chair of the Department of Theatre. She adds their "distorted reflection" of normal activities will help audiences to better "understand how everyday (life) works."
As always, DalTheatre Productions鈥� seasons are designed as teaching seasons, incorporating plays that can accommodate the size and curricula of the acting, theatre studies, costume studies and scenography programs. The Ionesco One-Acts offer a wide variety of roles for acting students to play; Into the Woods will involve the collaboration of some students from the music department; and The Country Wife will require especially extensive work in costume and set construction.
DalTheatre Productions strives to make its plays a learning experience for the audience as well, by choosing plays with contemporary relevance. For example, The Madwoman of Chaillot (February 9-12, 2011), a poetic satire, pits the drive for money and power against the importance of aesthetics, morals and emotions, using a humorous story about the oil industry.
Dr. Barker believes that the plays all have a "comic surface and a darker underbelly," describing the season as "whimsical."
Jure Gantar, director of the Ionesco One-Acts, says it will be interesting "to see how absurdist humour has survived the test of time" in the context of today鈥檚 society where "the absurd has become a part of the mainstream." Following the experimental and bizarre Ionesco One-Acts: The Bald Soprano and Jacques, the season moves on to its musical鈥�Into the Woods (November 23-27, 2010)鈥攚hich is probably the darkest play of the selection. Dr. Barker explains that Stephen Sondheim鈥檚 take on childhood fairytales is "not as happily-ever-after as you would expect."
The season will end with a production of The Country Wife (March 29-April 2, 2011). A Restoration-era comedy, it uses satire to show the audience the follies, corruption, and manipulative nature of mankind. This production, directed by period specialist James Dodding, will offer today鈥檚 viewers a peek at the reflection that was held up to audience members of the late 17th century when the play was first performed. The Country Wife, along with all of the preceding plays of the 2010-2011 season, serves the purpose of presenting everyday life in new and unexpected ways.
Through the Looking Glass
|