Stage Door News
Stage Door News
TORONTO (January 21, 2014): Toronto's Volcano, in association with Munich's BeMe Theatre, proudly presents A Beautiful View by acclaimed playwright Daniel MacIvor. Under Volcano Artistic Director Ross Manson's direction, this modern Canadian classic is radically reimagined and brought forward for a new generation to savour starring Canadian actors Becky Johnson (of improv duos IRON COBRA and The Sufferettes) and Amy Rutherford (Volcano's Goodness, Necessary Angel's Divisadero). A Beautiful View runs February 27 - March 9 at Factory Studio Theatre; tickets available by visiting volcano.ca or by calling the Factory Box Office at 416-504-9971.
A Beautiful View is a surprising and engaging piece of Canadian theatre by one of this country's finest theatre makers. Funny, quirky, touching and wonderfully entertaining, the play invites audiences to enter a highly personal performance space to revel in nuance and the charming complexity of human relationships.
A Beautiful View explores friendship. Specifically, a friendship between two young women that spans over a decade of their lives, and that moves through many phases. The play is subversive in its apparent simplicity. In a light, comic tone, two women arrive on a stage, and tell the story of their relationship - a friendship too close to categorize. Gradually, we realize that stories of camping and bands are not entirely what the evening is about. The many epiphanies and puzzles that go along with these intertwined lives are the subject of the play - a dissection of a friendship and by extension, an examination of what is important in our lives, what's missing, and what we lose track of in ourselves through obsession or fear.
While by no means a new play (first produced in 2005), Manson has crafted a new take on MacIvor's celebrated and beautiful script. The production features a new score by Munich-based composer Krister Schuchardt, physical and improvised performance by two fine Canadian actors, and the experimental, internationally-inspired Volcano twist that has captivated Toronto audiences for almost two decades.
This production originally marked the European premiere of A Beautiful View, presented by BeMe Theatre in Munich at the Einstein Kulturzentrumin in November 2012 to mostly sold-out houses. The Süddeutsche Zeitung said of the show:
"succeeds delightfully.. . . The reality of life that A Beautiful View shows us is like the bittersweet ukelele duet of the two main characters: sometimes a fragile interplay, sometimes a rhythmic drift. But under the surface is revealed a search for deep meaning. Playwright Daniel MacIvor and Director Ross Manson succeed with this in a 75-minute performance. Thanks above all to their wonderful leading actors, they manage something that others need volumes to achieve: an authentic portrait of a generation, its hopes, its fears."
A Beautiful View tours Ontario after its Toronto outing: to Kingston, Milton, Burlington, St. Catharines and North Bay throughout March. In bringing this intellectually rich and exceedingly enjoyable work throughout the province, director Ross Manson notes, "Daniel MacIvor is a superstar - one of our very best, and A Beautiful View is one of my favourite MacIvors. After knowing Daniel for thirty years (we began our professional lives together at the Stephenville Festival in Newfoundland), I am delighted to finally tackle one of his extraordinary works. Daniel has a rare talent, one that makes him capable of presenting a simple story in such a way that it assumes a much larger meaning. His words resonate, subtly, subversively, always speaking to something deep within our own experience, always addressing the time in which we are alive together. A Beautiful View is exactly that - a beautiful play that gives us a glimpse of ourselves. It speaks to that which is most important in our lives, and which is so easy to overlook - each other."
Volcano (Toronto), in association with BeMe Theatre (Munich), proudly present
A Beautiful View
by Daniel MacIvor
Directed by Ross Manson
Starring Becky Johnson and Amy Rutherford
Composed by Krister Schuchardt
Scenic Design by Ross Manson & Felix Leicher, Lighting Design by Rebecca Picherack
Factory Studio Theatre, 125 Bathurst St., Toronto
Thursday, February 27-Sunday, March 9, 2014
Tuesday-Saturdays at 8PM, Matinees Saturday at 2pm and Sundays at 4pm.
Tickets: $25 ($20 students, seniors, arts worker) with a PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN performance on March 4 (door sales only, no advance purchase)
Purchase tickets online at http://volcano.ca or call 416-504-9971.
(Use the code CAMPING before February 14 for $18 tickets to performances on Feb 28, Mar 1, 2, 4 and 5.).
LEAD PRODUCER: VOLCANO (TORONTO) Volcano is an international award-winning theatre company based in Toronto. Using innovations in global and intercultural performance practice, Volcano seeks to create theatre that is stylistically and socially modern, a theatre that explores identity, politics, and the contemporary human condition. Volcano is both cosmopolitan and uniquely Canadian, bringing this country the latest in international theatre trends while touring Canadian artists and works around the world. Led by Artistic Director Ross Manson, Volcano has been a vital contributor to the independent theatre scene since 1994, and continues to question what it means to be a purveyor of outward-looking, rigorous Canadian theatre. Volcano has won or been nominated for over fifty awards at the local, national and international level. It has been called "the best independent theatre company in Toronto"; (NOW Magazine), an "explosive company"; (The Independent, UK); and "one of those companies that every great theatre city needs - bold, experimental and bubbling with ideas" (Toronto Star). Recent shows include A Synonym for Love (Toronto); White Rabbit Red Rabbit (Premiere Production: Edinburgh, Toronto); The Four Horsemen Project (Toronto, Berlin, Dublin, Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria); Goodness (Toronto, Edinburgh, New York, Winnipeg, Victoria, Vancouver, throughout Ontario and across Rwanda); and Another Africa (a three-continent collaboration, which premiered as The Africa Trilogy at the Luminato Festival, and went on to the Canadian Stage in Toronto). www.volcano.ca
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: BEME THEATRE (MUNICH) BeMe Theatre is a Munich-based professional theatre company dedicated to the cutting-edge. BeMe endeavours to create an English-language theatre in Munich which debuts important international contemporary work, and engages in provocative ideas. BeMe Theatre was founded in 2005 in Barcelona, Spain.In 2006, BeMe was invited to perform at the Dramatic Arts Centre in Shanghai, China.In 2007, after a tour to Munich, Germany, where they performed for sold-out houses, founding member Elisa Moolecherry joined forces with Managing Director Felix Leicher and relocated the company to Munich. A Beautiful View had its European Premiere with BeMe in October 2012. www.bemetheatre.com.
Photo: Amy Rutherford and Becky Johnson. ©2013 BeMe Theatre.
2014-01-21
Toronto: Volcano and BeMe Theatre (Munich) present MacIvor's "A Beautiful View" February 27-March 9