Directed by Prof. Andy Houston
March 8-10 and 15-17, 2012 at
8pm
Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages Building
Tickets: $17 General, $13 Students & Seniors
Box Office: 519.888.4908
EyeGO tickets and group rates available
On October 7, 1571, the naval fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of European Catholic states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire, just off the Greek shoreline. In a matter of hours, the Battle of Lepanto changed the course of history; the victory of the Holy League prevented the Mediterranean Sea from becoming uncontested territory for Muslim forces, it protected Italy from Ottoman invasion, and it prevented the Ottoman Empire from advancing further into Europe. The Battle of Lepanto was the last major naval battle in the Mediterranean fought entirely between galleys, and to this day, October 7 is a day of celebration and symbolic significance in many parts of Europe; out of the violent destruction of a battle, came the birthday of a bond and mentality that would become modern Europe.
Scenes from an Execution takes us to Venice shortly after the battle, where the head of state has commissioned the most talented and extraordinary artist of the time to paint this pivotal moment in history on a canvas measuring 1000 square feet. The size of the project alone suggests the outcome will be a major public event but, as we discover in the play, the painting of the Battle of Lepanto is as much a contested encounter – of power, of history, of politics – as the moment it depicts. Galactia, the artist who wins the commission, possesses a vision and approach to her art that turns the surface of the painting into as traumatic an experience as the battle itself.
Indeed, in Scenes from an Execution, Howard Barker has demonstrated how the best art provides a terrain of encounter, and how the vision, creative impulse and skill of the artist gives rise to a critical response from the patron and public alike.
Scenes from an Execution poses many urgent and compelling questions about the agency of art in response to war. Barker wrote the play in 1986, in part as a response to Margaret Thatcher’s aggressive response to Argentina over British territory in the Falkland Islands, but in many ways his text is even more poignant today, post-911, after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in a time when the idea of Europe is questioned.
Barker is a contemporary English writer, who, among any number of stellar contemporaries, has established his own unique style of language and theatre. A master of his craft, his language at once illuminates and provokes, and ultimately serves the intelligence of actors in service of an audience, as both embrace the rights of interpretation.
UWaterloo Drama presents Scenes from an Execution, directed by Andy Houston, lighting design by Arun Srinivasan, set design by Kelly Wolf, video by Tallen Kay, music and sound composed by Meghan Bunce, stage management by Selin Erkaya, Production Management by Janelle Rainville, Production Promotion and Dramaturgy by Jordan Nottrodt, Robert Motum and Simon Thibodeau.
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Studio 180, Hagey Hall, University of Waterloo
Tickets for each afternoon or evening group of 3 plays: $10 General, $6.99 Students & Seniors
Rush tickets: $5 (at door 5 minutes before opening, if any left)
Box Office: 519.888.4908
Media Contact: Janelle Rainville jrainville@uwaterloo.ca 519.888.4567 x 31154
Performance Schedule:
First Weekend |
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Thursday, Feb 2
7:00 PM-9:30 PM Commedia de Burros by Anthony Fick These are My Words by Leeanna Caligagan Kiss and Make it Up: An Improv Show by Andreea Hluscu & Zach Parsons
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Friday, February 3
7:00 PM-9:30 PM As Our Ghosts will Say by Connor Hughes Box Play by Shaw Forgeron Life as a River by Rebecca Steiner & Kimberlee Walker
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Saturday, February 4
2:00 PM – 4:30 PM Anomaly by Michelle Kestle Jimmy Olsen, Superman's asshole of a best friend by Alex Hopf Kiss and Make it Up: An Improv Show by Andreea Hluscu & Zach Parsons
8:00 PM – 10:30 PM These are My Words by Leeanna Caligagan As Our Ghosts will Say by Connor Hughes Commedia de Burros by Anthony Fick |
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Thursday February 9
7:00 PM – 9:30 PM Box Play by Shaw Forgeron Life as a River by Rebecca Steiner & Kimberlee Walker Jimmy Olsen, Superman's asshole of a best friend by Alex Hopf
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Friday, February 10
7:00 PM – 9:30 PM Anomaly by Michelle Kestle Commedia de Burros by Anthony Fick Kiss and Make it Up: An Improv Show by Andreea Hluscu & Zach Parsons
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Saturday, February 11
2:00 PM – 4:30 PM These are My Words by Leeanna Caligagan As Our Ghosts will Say by Connor Hughes Life as a River by Rebecca Steiner & Kimberlee Walker
8:00 PM – 10:30 PM Jimmy Olsen, Superman's asshole of a best friend by Alex Hopf Anomaly by Michelle Kestle Box Play by Shaw Forgeron
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Director: Anne-Marie Donovan
November 10-19, 2011 at 8 pm
Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages Building, University of Waterloo
Tickets: $17 General, $13 Students & Seniors
Box Office: 519.888.4908 or tickets at the door
EyeGO tickets and group rates available
What happens when we leave our own daily reality and visit a foreign land where the rules and structures are different? New and exotic places offer us a chance to re-imagine ourselves and to experiment with new experiences. They have a way of imprinting their own reality onto ours. And when we return to our lives, are we changed? Or do we return to the status quo? These questions lie at the heart of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, as we follow four young lovers and the beloved Bottom into the woods where they encounter the mysterious, magical world of the fairies.
UWaterloo’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is set in post WWII and tracks the ‘dream’ of the baby boomers. From the conformism and consumerism of the 1950’s , we travel through the ‘woods’ to the counter culture of the 1960’s and the advent of celebrity culture, and finally end up in the corporate culture of the late 1980’s. Using the stunning visual world of hippie culture as a backdrop, much fun and confusion ensues.
Department of Drama and Speech Communication
University of Waterloo
Modern Languages Building Room 119A
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: 519 888 4567 extension 35808
Fax: 519 888 4304
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