Performances - Theatre

Chutzpah! and Felix Culpa present

DONALD AND LENORE

The world premiere of a new work by internationally renowned Vancouver based playwright Tom Cone, author of Herringbone, True Mummy, Cubistique and the libretto for Vancouver Opera's The Architect.

Lenore (Linda Quibell) has been performing her magical, musical floor show for ten years at the Tahitian Room in the Holiday–Everyday–Airport Hotel, three floors below parking. She works with a succession of dangerous paroled convicts whom she all calls "Donald". Everything rides on tonight's performance: Donald Number Seven (Billy Marchenski) wants to shake up the act by inserting his own material, and Lenore has secret plans for taking them to a new level. But something inexplicable is going on. Why are planes being diverted from the airport? What has happened to Donald's lover, Hernando? Who's in the elevator?

Donald and Lenore is a fiercely dark and comic play about survival, performance, American hegemony, tikis, incarceration, love and the power to resist annihilation with a little bit of glamour.

Donald and Lenore is also more than just a world premiere theatrical performance. For the entire run of the show, the Wosk Auditorium will be transformed into the Wosk Tahiti Lounge Cabaret. Cabaret seating and Tiki décor will contribute to the tacky glory of Lenore's subterranean lair and immerse audiences into the whole experience. Be one of the first to see this play and share in a unique evening!

Written By Tom Cone
Directed by David Bloom
Featuring Linda Quibell and Billy Marchenski
Set and Lighting design by John Webber
Costumes by Karen Mathews
Compositions arranged by Peter Hurst

"...the dazzling trickery of its surface...the poignant tenderness and full humanity of its unexpected depths." Boston Globe review of Tom Cone's play Herringbone

"No other company in town matches Felix Culpa's dedication to the power of words" Georgia Straight

www.felixculpa.bc.ca

Presented with

Presented with the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad and The Cultch

UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL

The return of an overdue library book - 113 years late - piques the nascent detective skills of an uptight Dutch librarian who embarks on a quixotic, globe trotting pursuit of the anonymous borrower and returner.

The scribbled note "I was here" in the book's margin and a yellowed claim check from a London dry cleaner are the first two clues. His quest to unravel the mystery then leads him to a post office box in Dingtao, China; a government records bureau in Bonn; a sound and photo archive in New York; and an attic in Australia.

Christian Murray, superb in the role of the Librarian, leads the audience on a winding trail through history to a mystery that dates back to the Crucifixion and a figure who may be more man than myth.

"...a cosmic puzzle that makes "The Da Vinci Code" seem like a game of hide-and-seek." Variety Magazine

"...powerfully human and ultimately sublime." Variety

"Underneath The Lintel is an intriguing piece, poetic, funny and touching...it ultimately reminded me of how important it is to find passion in life and to go after it. And Christian is the perfect actor for it - he captures the loneliness and the fragility of the character who emerges from a grey existence into a world of glorious technicolour with great subtlety." Marcia Kash

By Glen Berger
Produced by Frankie Productions
Starring Christian Murray
Directed by Mary Vingoe
Set Design Stephen Osler
Lighting Design Ingrid Risk

ODYSSEUS CHAOTICUS - from Israel's Ish Theatre

A fantastic cabaret show based on the travels of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, brings together physical theater, clowning, acting, dance and live music. The three performers, who also sing, dance and play a variety of musical instruments, play a multitude of characters, alternating between them in an almost dizzying rhythm. The multi-talented trio tells the story of the great Greek hero, King Odysseus, who struggles to find his way home in a wondrously cruel world inhabited by ancient gods, witches, monsters and larger-than-life humans.

Parts of the mythological Odyssey are intertwined into a story of an eccentric Italian family; a romantic-dreamer husband, his uptight and dominating but loving wife, a needy old Papa and their noisy newborn baby all packed like sardines in their small home. The day-dreaming husband escapes his mundane routine and takes an imaginative journey inspired by Homer's Odyssey. This is one of the most entertaining hours you will ever spend in the theatre!

"An amazing balance between sharp directing and the brilliant improvisational skills of the three clowns, each one of them bursting with talent" - M.Zur-Glozman, Ma'ariv Online

Creators and performers
Noam Rubinstein, Fyodor Makarov and Yolana Zimmerman

"Pure fun!" - Marat Parkhomovski, Yediot Tel-Aviv