This week’s interview features the cast of Crave – Alex Dawkins, Sarah Emslie and Gabriel Richardson – which is being staged as part of the Fringe Theatre’s off-season by local indie company StoneMarrow Theatre. Scroll down to listen to that.
Theatre news this week included SkirtsAfire festival’s expansion across the city. Originally centered on Alberta Avenue, this year’s festival will have performances at the Westbury in Old Strathcona and Station on Jasper Avenue downtown.
It has been five years since fire destroyed the Roxy Theatre on January 13, 2015. The process to rebuild is underway and you can donate to those efforts by following the link below.
Some more great news from Theatre Network: they just announced a fund for the commission of new plays, in partnership with the Morris Foundation. The intent of the fund is “to support the creation of scripts focusing on work relating to mental health and/or addiction.” The first play created through this fund is Joan Upside Down by Colleen Murphy, which will be produced by Theatre Network in a future season.
I saw Everybody Loves Robbie, Northern Light Theatre’s newest show, last week. Read my review here.
In this week’s interview I spoke to the cast (minus one) of Crave – Alex Dawkins, Sarah Emslie and Gabriel Richardson. Crave is part of Fringe Theatre’s off-season. The script was written by Sarah Kane, a UK playwright who is part of the “In-Yer-Face” theatre movement of the 90s and early 2000s. Kane’s work is notorious for having pretty extreme staged violence, which is common to plays in that movement. Crave is actually considered the calmest of her plays but when it was first staged, Kane actually used a pseudonym because her reputation preceded her and she had been blasted by critics for the violence and graphic subject of her previous works.
Crave is notable because it has no stage directions and the characters aren’t named, other than being given an initial (A, B, C and M). They aren’t really described in any way, either, other than through the script. So basically other than the lines, everything is left up to the imagining of the creative team which is, in this case, local indie theatre group StoneMarrow Theatre. Helmed by Samantha Jeffery and Perry Gratton, StoneMarrow’s raison d’etre is to challenge the status quo and stage riskier material than is usually seen on Edmonton stages.
With Crave, they certainly achieve this. Stay tuned for a review of this show in the coming days. For now, listen to the interview.
Show notes and listings:
Mel’s review of Everybody Loves Robbie
SkirtsAFire festival expands to three neighbourhoods in 2020
Donate to the Capital Campaign to rebuild The Roxy Theatre
Morris Foundation/Theatre Network Fund for Commission of Plays
Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, playing as part of the Winter Shakespeare Festival, Malachite Theatre, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, until Feb 2
The Witch of Edmonton: staged reading, Winter Shakespeare Festival, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Jan 22
Everybody Loves Robbie, Northern Light Theatre, Studio Theatre in ATB Financial Arts Barns, until Jan 25
Cost of Living, Citadel Theatre, until Feb 2
The Professors, Rapid Fire Theatre, Zeidler Hall in Citadel Theatre, until Feb 1
Crave, Fringe Theatre, Backstage Theatre in ATB Financial Arts Barns, until Jan 25
Diavolo, Alberta Ballet, Jubilee Auditorium, Jan 21 – 22
Happy Birthday Baby J, Shadow Theatre, Varscona Theatre, Jan 22 – Feb 9
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