PREVIOUS SHOWS
2008 - 2007 - 2006
2008
‘Night, Mother
by Marsha Norman
May 28 – June 14
This modern classic won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1983.
“Honest, uncompromising, lucid penetrating”
New York Magazine
“Don’t miss your chance to catch Theatre Inconnu’s latest dramatic masterpiece… Director Clayton Jevne has created a beautifully personal play… As for Bartlet and Pickett, well, they’re just amazing… you may feel the urge to pick up the phone and tell your mom how much you care about her.”
Monday Magazine
‘Night Mother is a penetrating examination of a mother and
daughter relationship. The two characters in this play reach a
level of communication that transcends the generational,
cultural, and societal restrictions that define family confrontation.
While Norman’s writing is both deeply moving and unexpectedly humourous, her power lies in her ability to shock us out of the complacency that blinds us to hidden trauma.
‘Night Mother is directed by Clayton Jevne
and features Geli Bartlett and Karen Lee Pickett
Show dates:
May 27th through June 14th,
(with exceptions – see below)
Half price ($6) preview:
Tuesday, May 27th at 8 pm.
Then:
*Thursday, May 29th through Saturday May 31.
Then:
*Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 pm until June 14th.
*There will be no show on Wednesday, June 4th.
*There will be “Pay-what-You–Can”
admission on Friday, June 6th at 8pm.
*There will be one Saturday afternoon matinee:
on June 14th at 2pm.
Ticket prices: $10 & $12
Location:
1923 Fernwood Rd. (across from the Belfry Theatre)
Theatre Inconnu is wheelchair accessible.
Information and reservations: 360-0234
Email: tinconnu@islandnet.com
The Pillowman
by Martin McDonagh
Continues at Theatre Inconnu
Held over until April 5th !
Don’t miss out! There are still seats available for all performances.
“Dark, funny and thought-provoking... the cast does a standup job... excellent performances all around... laughs so dark and dry they’ll make your nose bleed... A night of fantastic performances... don’t miss it.”
Monday Magazine
“There are no weak links in this production . Those who enjoy tough, smart theatre... will find this production thought-provoking and funny. It will rank as one of the standouts of the season.”
Times Colonist
“Quiet, reflective, dramatic, explosive... strong performances... a dream cast... definitely worth seeing... challenging, engaging.”
CBC Radio
This play, by contemporary Irish playwright McDonagh, and directed by Graham McDonald, is currently taking Victoria by storm. Filled with humour and unexpected plot twists, the play reminds us of mankind’s capacity to re-assign responsibility; as two totalitarian police officers try to unravel
a series of disturbing murders.
Warning: Graphic language and violence
*Performances Wednesday through Saturday nights
at 8 pm until April 5th
*No show on Friday Mar 28th
*Saturday matinee performances: Mar 22nd,
Mar 29th, and April 5th at 2 pm
Ticket prices: $10 (students, seniors, unwaged) & $12 (regular)
Location: 1923 Fernwood Rd. (across from the Belfry Theatre)
Theatre Inconnu is wheelchair accessible.
Information and reservations: 360-0234
Email: tinconnu@islandnet.com
www.theatreinconnu.com
The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
March 12 - March 29 2008
Picture by Thiago Silva
“A spellbinding stunner of a play” New York Times. This play, by contemporary Irish playwright McDonagh, will provide an exciting “kick-off” to our third decade. Filled with humour and unexpected plot twists, the play reminds us of mankind’s capacity to re-assign responsibility; as two totalitarian police officers (in a sort of twisted “Laurel and Hardy” relationship) try to unravel a series of disturbing murders. Apart from providing first class entertainment, The Pillowman is sure to generate much after-show discussion about moral issues and perspectives.
Show dates:
Half price ($6) preview: Wednesday, Mar 12th at 8 pm
Then: Wednesday through Saturday evenings
at 8 pm until Mar 29th
*There will be no show on Friday Mar 28th
*There will be Pay-what-YouCan admission
on Wednesday, Mar 19th
*There will also be two Saturday afternoon matinees:
on Mar 22nd and Mar 29th at 2 pm
Ticket prices: $10 & $12
Location: 1923 Fernwood Rd. (across from the Belfry Theatre)
Theatre Inconnu is wheelchair accessible.
2007
Diary of a Madman
by Nikolai Gogol
and
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Dec. 12 – Dec. 29
This one-actor double bill of two great Russian classics is scheduled to coincide with a year-end celebration of Theatre Inconnu’s 20th anniversary season. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man was first performed by Theatre Inconnu twenty years ago by founder and on-going Artistic Director Clayton Jevne. And to help celebrate the tenacity of our company, Clayton will be reprising Dostoyevsky’s piece along with a new production of Gogol’s masterpiece. The Diary of a Madman is a comic masterpiece profiling a struggling civil servant’s delusions of grandeur. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man is an inspiring fable of a character who journeys from a state of despair into one of enlightenment, joy, and compassion. Clayton’s solo performances have been critically acclaimed internationally, so try not to miss this holiday treat From theatre Inconnu’s “founding father.”
Possessions
by Kevin Land
Oct. 17 – Nov. 3, 2007
Possessions is a play inspired by Felicitas Goodman’s book The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel; the book upon which the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose was loosely based. Goodman’s book chronicles the true story of a young woman who died in the mid-seventies after receiving a Vatican approved exorcism to rid her of six demons. Land’s interpretation of the events has produced a story that is heartbreaking, as well as terrifying. Although work-shopped at Canada’s famous Stratford Festival, this play has yet to be produced in Western Canada. Directed by Graham McDonald (The Caretaker) this is an extremely powerful play, and will prove an exceptional evening of thought provoking entertainment.
***
The Trutch Street Women
By Ellen Arrand
June 20 – July 7
This play, by local playwright and published novelist
Ellen Arrand, was a finalist in the 2006 Theatre BC
National Play-writing Contest. This moving story captures
the passion of the feminist movement in the early
1970’s, as a group of young single mothers band
together for friendship and support
to challenge the status quo.
Directed by Theatre Inconnu Artistic
director Clayton Jevne, the cast includes
Meara Tubman-Broeren, Lindsay Alley,
Zoe Pappas-Acreman, Ellen Arrand, Taryn Von Niessen, Hannah Johnson and Kayvon Hanlan.
***
The Caretaker
by Harold Pinter
Feb 22 – Mar 10
The Caretaker is one of the most significant plays in modern drama. Through a unique mix of comedy and suspense, The Caretaker magnifies the dynamics of interpersonal power struggles. First performed in 1960, this three-character play established Pinter as a major playwright. Pinter is now an “elder statesman” in the stage and movie worlds, and this production of The Caretaker will give audiences a chance to experience the youthful and powerful writing that took the world of theatre by storm almost fifty years ago.
This is powerful theatre at its best!
The Caretaker is directed by Graham McDonald (also Executive Director of Shakespeare in the Summer). The strong cast consists of Theatre Inconnu Artistic Director, Clayton Jevne (last seen as the Ambassador in Theatre Inconnu’s The Ambassador), Michael Shewchuk (Stachu in Theatre Inconnu’s The Butcher’s Apron) and Jason Steven’s (Duncan and the Porter in Shakespeare in the Summer’s Macbeth).
The critics are unanimous in their praise!
MONDAY MAGAZINE
The Caretaker is both electric and fresh, and just about everything you want; a Pinter play to be alive and fresh an engaging, exciting production that never stalls or stumbles funny, painful, and deeply revealing.
Go see The Caretaker. Now. Tonight. Go!
TIMES COLONIST
Jevne makes Davies a glorious, twitching wreck
Shewchuk delivered a lovely, low-key portrayal of the damaged. Aston Stevens, as Mick, embodied barely
repressed violence, giving the play a necessary
dramatic backbone.
CBC RADIO
Kudos to director Graham McDonald for creating
a very simple show that lets the actors and the text of this great play shine. We need theatre like this
to remind us of what's really going on in the world.
***
The Madwoman of Chaillot
by Jean Giraudoux
FINAL WEEK !!!
“there’s no reason not to see this often
quite funny production”
Monday Magazine
“worth seeking out.. Replete with good parts for older actresses, and it’s a pleasure to see them... Strut their stuff”
Time colonist
Continues till May 19
This is one of the great plays of the 20th Century, this play is unsurpassed as a glorious celebration of life and love.
Directed by Clayton Jevne, starring Judith McDowel as The Madwoman.
May 3 – May 19
This is one of the great plays of the 20th Century.
Written in occupied France in1944, Giraudoux’s play speaks just as strongly today with its warning against the subjugation of the human spirit in the
creation of a global economy.
The play’s heroine, The Madwoman, refuses to acknowledge anything but the simple and beautiful, and enlists a host of misfits to block the destruction of her beloved Parisian neighbourhood. This play is unsurpassed as a glorious celebration of life and love.Half price ($6) preview Wednesday, May 2nd at 8 pm.
Then: Wednesday through Saturday evenings
at 8 pm until May 19th
There will also be two Saturday afternoon matinees at 2pm: May 12th and May 19th
Ticket prices:
$12 regular, $10 seniors, students & unwaged.
There will be a “pay-what-you-can” admission charge
on Wednesday, May 9th.
The Little Fernwood Hall is wheelchair accessible.
Information and reservations:
360-0234
“Full of reminders of things too easily forgotten.”
New York Times
***
2006
The Butcher's Apron
by Charles Tidler This is the Western Canada Premiere
of one of Canada's major playwrights.
Charles Tidler's hilarious comedy is a deliciously twisted
interpretation of the great Swedish playwright August Strindberg's
time spent in Berlin at the turn of the 20th century.
This city at the time was the artistic Mecca of Europe,
and the Black Pig Pub saw such creative geniuses as
Austrian writer Frida Uhl and Norwegian painter
Edvard Munch (both irresistibly animated by Tidler) falling into
orbit around Strindberg's larger than life personality.
Directed by Clayton Jevne, this show boasts a strong cast
of actors including David MacPherson as Strindberg,
John Emmet Tracy as Munch, and Laura O'Connor as Frida Uhl.
The Butcher's apron played to critical acclaim at Toronto's famed
Theatre Pass Muraille, and Victoria audiences will be the first
in Western Canada to experience this theatrical treat!
***
A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES
Adapted from Dylan Thomas by Burgess Clark
December 6 – December 23
From December 6th through December 23rd,
at the Little Fernwood Hall
(1923 Fernwood Road, across from the Belfry Theatre),
Theatre Inconnu will be presenting
Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales,
adapted for the stage from the original story by Burgess Clark.
This production will be the Canadian premiere of a play
that has been selling out in the States wherever it is performed.
Clark has preserved Dylan’s original prose,
while adding to it - giving the story a charming form
that will engage audience members of all ages.
“In short, it is glorious – a 90 minute journey through nostalgia that weaves through the spectrum of emotions.”
Burlington Free Press Once again, Theatre Inconnu and The Little Fernwood Hall
have gotten the jump on the reset of Canada, and Victoria residents will have the privilege of being the first in this country to share the joy of this recent stage adaptation of Dylan’s classic.
