Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, ON (*March 12, 2012) ––– Harbourfront Centre is proud to present the Canadian premiere of The Wooster Group’s Version of Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carré, as part of World Stage 2012, from March 28-31, 2012 at the Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West. Directed by The Wooster Group’s founding member, Elizabeth LeCompte, and starring long-time company members Ari Fliakos, Scott Sheppard and Kate Valk. Williams’ Vieux Carré is boldly re-imagined by one the most influential experimental theatre companies of the past 30 years and marks The Wooster Group’s first return to Toronto since 1989.
“I’d trade a dozen or so Broadway retreads of Williams’ acknowledged masterpieces for this . . . brilliant production.” – LA Times
“The Wooster Group-the radical New York collective known for their inventive use of multimedia- have created an engrossing production that brings out the play’s concern with memory and writing.” – Financial Times
This radical—yet textually faithful—interpretation so Williams' autobiographical play seethes with sexual and creative awakening, desire and loneliness. Tennessee Wiliams’ Vieux Carré is set in the French quarter of New Orleans in a dilapidated flophouse. Williams finished Vieux Carré in the 1970s when he was living in New York City, but he started it forty years earlier, in the late 1930s, when he was at the beginning of his career. Vieux Carré is a memory play, in which the narrator looks back on his past. He remembers his artistic and sexual awakening there, surrounded by a cast of characters typical of Williams’ plays: financially or spiritually bankrupt souls, barely surviving on the fringes of society, downtrodden by disease, decay and broken dreams.
For this production, director Elizabeth LeCompte and The Wooster Group were influenced by Andy Warhol’s and Paul Morrissey’s films from the 70’s and the work of the young contemporary video sensation Ryan Trecartin. Supported by a layered sound score and inventive use of video—The Wooster Group’s trademarks—the play is deftly translated to the 21st century.
The Wooster Group is an ensemble of dynamic theatre artists based out of New York City. Situated in the worlds of dance, visual arts and theatrical arts, the Group’s work is part of radical postmodern experiments that originated in the mid-‘70s. In The Wooster Group’s pioneering productions, texts and technology are interwoven to tell stories in new ways.
Performance details:
Wednesday, March 28, 2012: 8 p.m.
Thursday, March 29, 2012: 8 p.m.
Friday, March 30, 2012: 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 31, 2012: 8 p.m.
Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West, Toronto.
Tickets: $45, $36 (seniors and artsworkers), $15 (CultureBreak – 13 to 25 years-old) available at Harbourfront Centre’s Box Office. Call 416-973-4000, email tickets@harbourfrontcentre.com or visit harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage
March 29 performance will be followed by a free talkshow for ticket holders with Elizabeth LeCompte and members of the Wooster Group, hosted by Clyde Wagner, General Manager of Luminato.
For more information, visit harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage2012/industry
For complete event details and full schedule, the public may visit harbourfrontcentre.com or call the Information Hotline at 416-973-4000. Harbourfront Centre is located at 235 Queens Quay West, in the heart of downtown Toronto’s waterfront.
Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage 2012 gratefully acknowledges the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and WestinHarbourCastle, the official host hotel of World Stage.
ABOUT HARBOURFRONT CENTRE
Harbourfront Centre is an innovative, non-profit cultural organization which provides internationally renowned programming in the arts, culture, education and recreation, all within a collection of distinctive venues on a 10-acre site it operates in the heart of Toronto’s downtown waterfront.
2012-03-12
Toronto: World Stage presents The Wooster Group’s version of Tennessee Williams “Vieux Carré”