Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, ON – March 14, 2016: VideoCabaret and Albert Schultz, Founding Artistic Director of Soulpepper Theatre Company, today announced further details about VideoCabaret’s production of The Great War (The History of the Village of the Small Huts, 1914-1918) part of Michael Hollingsworth’s award-winning History Plays, on stage at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts from April 1 to May 14, 2016.
With The Great War, Michael Hollingsworth and VideoCabaret step once more into the breach to battle Canada’s most dangerous enemy – cultural amnesia. In The Great War, Hollingsworth focuses his hyper-theatrical eye on the death throes of British Canada, conjuring Canada’s national ghosts and demons to tell another unforgettable story of why this country is the way it is.
Hollingsworth’s History Plays are satires combining comedy, tragedy, pathos, farce; a mix that is darkest in the plays about conquest and war. The Great War focuses on mid-ranking officers and infantry-men who are named in no history book - their stories link the front line with the home front, and intensify the tragedy in this play as far as satire can go. The Great War elicits sorrow and laughter with the graveyard humour of soldiers, the murderous folly of leaders, and the absurdity of warfare.
Staged in VideoCabaret’s signature ‘black-box’, The Great War challenges designers and performers to conjure up dozens of characters including Prime Minister Borden, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, Colonel Arthur Currie, deux Mademoiselles from Armentières, the Canadian Army, the German Army, and the heretofore unknown soldiers, Dave and John.
Directed by Michael Hollingsworth with co-director Deanne Taylor, The Great War will be performed by: Aviva Armour-Ostroff; Richard Alan Campbell; Jamie Cavanagh; Mac Fyfe; Jacob James; David Jansen; and Linda Prystawska.
For tickets and more information visit soulpepper.ca or call the Young Centre Box Office at 416.866.8666.
VideoCabaret is generously sponsored by BMO.
Tickets for The Great War range from $36 to $56. $25 tickets are available for Arts Workers. $25 tickets for Soulpepper productions are also available for 18-30 year-olds at stageplay.ca. StagePlay is sponsored by TD Bank Group. The $25 Rush Ticket / $5 Youth Rush program is sponsored by Sun Life Financial. Ticket prices include a Young Centre facility fee, service charge and HST. Pricing is subject to change.
Photo: Gavin Crawford and Ed Roy. ©2016
2016-03-14
Toronto: VideoCabaret's "The Great War" runs at the Young Centre April 1-May 14