Stage Door News
Toronto: Sci-fi thriller “Craze” runs at the Tarragon Theatre November 19-December 15
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Mike Payette, Artistic Director of Tarragon Theatre and Executive Director Lisa Li are excited to announce Craze, A World Premiere co-production from Tarragon Theatre and Modern Time Stage Company in association with Theatre ARTaud. The piece written by Rouvan Silogix & Rafeh Mahmud runs in the Mainspace from November 19 - December 15, 2024 (opening November 27).
In Craze, two couples hiding from the world face the collective grief of checkered pasts and how that has shaped their present. Were they complicit in creating the global storms at large? And is their AI companion here to help, or are they something much more sinister? An evening of drinking and sex cascades into chaos, as mounting internal and external pressures lead them to explore the artifice of real life and whether or not technology can fill the void.
“How far will we go to control what is destined to be, and from where and whom we come from? Craze - aptly titled - is a sensational world that culminates the tropes of the living room drama within the spheres of genetics, bloodlines, socio and geo-political connections, and artificial intelligence,” considers Artistic Director Mike Payette, who directs this piece.
Payette continues, “Biting and funny in one breath and disturbing and heartbreaking in another, Craze connects the celebrations of works such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Dante's Inferno into a thrilling stylized tale that places its audience in the centre of the cyclone. It's an electric piece to be a part of and a bold offering into the Canadian canon.”
Craze is written by brothers Rouvan Silogix (Crow's Theatre and Modern Times Stage Company’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) and Rafeh Mahmud (The Caged Bird Sings at Aga Khan Museum), with set and costume design by Christine Ting-Huan 挺歡 Urquhart (Tarragon’s Cockroach), lighting design by Arun Srinivasan (Tarragon’s Cockroach), sound design and composition by Maddie Bautista (Stratford Festival’s Les Belles-Soeurs), and performances by Augusto Bitter (Factory’s Year of the Rat), Ali Kazmi (Tarragon’s Behind the Moon), Kwaku Okyere (Canadian Stage’s Choir Boy), Lisa Ryder (Bald Ego/Nightwood’s A Blow In the Face) and Louisa Zhu (Factory’s Lady Sunrise). With direction by Tarragon’s Artistic Director, Mike Payette (Tarragon’s Come Home: The Legend of Daddy Hall) and assistant direction by 郝邦宇 Steven Hao (Tarragon’s Cockroach).
Craze
A World Premiere co-production from Tarragon Theatre and Modern Times Stage Company in association with Theatre ARTaud.
written by Rouvan Silogix & Rafeh Mahmud
directed by Mike Payette
assistant directed by 郝邦宇 Steven Hao
featuring Augusto Bitter, Ali Kazmi, Kwaku Okyere, Lisa Ryder, Louisa Zhu
Nov 19 – Dec 15, 2024 (opening Nov 27)
Single Tickets range from $15 - $72 and can be purchased online at tarragontheatre.com, or by phone at 416-531-1827. Discounts are available for students, groups and arts workers. Contact the box office for more information.
Tarragon offers the most flexible subscription packages in the city with significant discounts on subscription pricing. Plus, allowing patrons to choose their productions, change their dates free of charge. Visit the website or call Patron Services today for more information.
Rush tickets are sold for $35, by phone, in person or online via tickets.tarragontheatre.com starting 3 hours before the performance. Rush tickets are subject to availability.
For more information on Tarragon’s events and activities, visit tarragontheatre.com.