Stage Door News
Stage Door News
In 1982 David Mamet unleashed a play considered to be among North America's most controversial texts. The Red One Theatre Collective, hosted by The Storefront Theatre presents EDMOND, a brutal portrait of a middle class American gone very very wrong.
The Storefront Theatre never shies away from controversial texts, and Artistic Director Benjamin Blais promises this production will be one of our most provocative pieces to date.
Toronto INDIE stage powerhouse Tim Walker (Punch Up, Help Yourself, Skriker, Savage in Limbo, Boeing Boeing) leads the charge as Edmond, as he encounters a New York by nightmare through the city's brothels, diners, and prison system. Walker is joined by a diverse cast of fantastic actors including Ryan Tilley (Copper, Lost Girl), Christef Desir (Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Unit 102), Jeff Hanson (SHREW, CTP’s Shakespeare Abridged), Christie Stewart (Bad Luck Bank Robbers, 4th Line Theatre), Gabby Lazarovitz (St. Lawrence Shakespeare Company, Company of Fools), Matthew Gouveia (Bout FRINGE), Olivia Marashman (Eigengrau, The Baby), Amanda Cordner (Bitchcraft), as well as newcomers Pauline Bédarida, Gabriel Hamilton and Randel Dsouza.
The National Ballet of Canada’s Ashleigh Powell choreographs this tight ensemble on the Storefront’s black box stage reimagined with an inventive twist by set designer Bronwen Lily. Storefront veteran Melissa Joakim brings evocative lighting design to the urban landscape, while Holly Lloyd’s costumes transport us back to the gritty Manhattan of the 1980’s. Classical composer Dimitar Pentchev and local rock hero Carter Hayden team up to create a fascinating live soundscape of New York City at it’s most beautiful and most grotesque.
Nearly thirty years after Edmond’s contentious off Broadway debut, the text still stings. In our current climate, especially in Toronto’s left leaning art scene, political correctness is a bare minimum expectation. By contrast, Mamet’s words are anything but. Bold and uncomfortable, they challenge both actor and audience to act as witness to the racial and sexual prejudices still plaguing North America. How precious it is, the veil of social decency Edmond struggles to maintain. The play asks us, what are the repercussions of abandoning manners, decency and self-control?
You may love Edmond or hate it, but you will never forget it.
Edmond
by David Mamet
November 6th - November 22nd
Wed - Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm
The Storefront Theatre, 955 Bloor Street West
$20.00 - $25.00, Advance tickets available @ www.thestorefronttheatre.com
Photo: Poster for Edmond at Wilton’s Music Hall, London, UK. ©2009.
2015-10-19
Toronto: The Red One Theatre Collective presents David Mamet's "Edmond" November 6-22