Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Cart/Horse Theatre will present the World Premiere of Toronto actor Arlin Dixon’s debut play Eirlys & Eckhart at Theatre Passe Muraille’s Backspace March 6-16, directed by Matt White.
Eirlys & Eckhart is an eerie domestic horror in which two old friends reunite in a room governed by the rules of children’s logic to solve the mystery of their missing parents. A coming-of-age story taken off its hinges, Eirlys & Eckhart unfolds in a nightmare space the shape of a giant cardboard box where every relationship is fraught with danger and threats are constantly closing in.
Cart/Horse Artistic Director Matt Gorman, who also plays Eckhart, says he decided to produce the play because it doesn’t fit easily into the genre categories seen on stage in Toronto.
“People aren’t writing like Arlin is writing,” Gorman says. “It’s going to be a unique experience – there will not be another show like it on stage in Toronto.”
Director Matt White – also making his directorial debut in Toronto after focussing much of his career thus far on dramaturgy and producing – says this puzzlebox play is intriguing because it tests the audience to draw its own conclusions.
“This is a very literate play. A lot of plays are very straightforward,” White explains. “I want the audience to have that moment of collective realization that you see in films like The Sixth Sense or Fight Club, but without spelling out the solution for them.”
For playwright Arlin Dixon, who lists as influences Philip Ridley and Marina Carr, the play started as a desire to write a show governed by the rules of children’s play logic and a challenge from her husband, Gorman, to write a role for him to play a cowboy.
“This is the type of thing that can’t happen anywhere but on a stage,” she says of her play.
WHAT: Eirlys & Eckhart by Arlin Dixon (World Premiere)
WHO: Director: Matt White
Starring: Matthew Gorman and Arlin Dixon
Design: Jenna McCutchen Stage Manager: Jen Derventzis
WHERE: Theatre Passe Muraille (Backspace) – 16 Ryerson Ave
WHEN: Mar 6-16; Tues-Sat 7:30pm, Sat 2pm (show is 70 minutes long)
TICKETS: $20; Saturday matinee PWYC at artsboxoffice.ca or 416-504-7529artsboxoffice.ca OR 416.504.7529
MORE INFO: http://carthorsetheatre.com
Photo: Arlin Dixon and Matthew Gorman. ©2013 Cart/Horse Theatre.
2013-02-11
Toronto: Cart/Horse Theatre presents the world premiere of “Eirlys and Eckhart” March 6-16