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January 28, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Kirk Thomson
(416) 536-5018 ext. 231 / fax (416) 533-6372
E-Mail: kirk@tarragontheatre.com
For more information, please go to www.necessaryangel.com
Half Life by John Mighton
World Premiere
Directed by Daniel Brooks
Starring: Laura de Carteret, Barbara Gordon, Carolyn Hetherington,
Maggie Huculak, Randy Hughson, Diego Matamoros, Eric Peterson
Set & costumes designed by Dany Lyne
Lighting designed by Andrea Lundy
Sound designed by Richard Feren
Stage manager: Crystal Salverda
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“What shines through when memory fades away?”
Clara (Carolyn Hetherington) and Patrick (Eric Peterson) meet in a nursing home for veterans and their families. They begin to fall in love, thinking they are rekindling an old flame. Have they ever met before? As Clara and Patrick’s middle-aged children watch their faltering parents, the older couple rediscovers beauty and love in the twilight of their lives.
To quote director Daniel Brooks, artistic director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company: “John Mighton’s Half Life is a play about memory – or more precisely – forgetting. The central idea is that we are defined as much by what we forget as we are by what we remember. And given that identity is contingent on what we remember, how does the loss of memory affect identity. Under investigation is the following: what is it that constitutes self, and what might be this thing we call the soul?”
John Mighton has said of his play, “Society is growing more unable – in its obsession with new products and information – to remember or learn from the past.”
John Mighton is a Dora, Chalmers and Governor General’s Award-winning playwright (Possible Worlds, A Short History of Night, Body and Soul, Scientific Americans, and The Little Years). His play Possible Worlds was made into a full-length feature film directed by renowned director/playwright Robert Lepage. Mighton has completed a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Toronto and has lectured in philosophy at McMaster University. In 1998 he developed JUMP, a successful school program designed to reach children who are having difficulty in math, which inspired his best-selling book The Myth of Ability published by House of Anansi Press. He is currently doing his post-doctoral research on knot theory and graph theory at the Fields Institute. Half Life is John’s first new work for the stage in nine years.
Leading the cast of Half Life are stage and screen veterans Carolyn Hetherington (Blue Murder) and Eric Peterson (Corner Gas). Playing the parts of their children Anna and Donald are Laura de Carteret and Diego Matamoros who were last seen at the Tarragon in Side Man and Patience respectively. Strongly rounding out the cast are Barbara Gordon as Agnes and Diana, Maggie Huculak as Tammy and Randy Hughson as Reverend Hill. Half Life reunites the award-winning artistic team behind the stage version of Possible Worlds with Daniel Brooks directing. Dany Lyne designs set and costumes, Andrea Lundy designs lighting, Richard Feren designs sound. Crystal Salverda is the stage manager
Necessary Angel Theatre Company began developing Half Life two years ago. In 2004 the workshop production of Half Life was presented at Theatre Passe Muraille. This world premiere is a result of Necessary’s Angel commitment to the long-term development of new Canadian work.
Necessary Angel Theatre Company, and Tarragon Theatre presents
Half Life written by John Mighton and directed by Daniel Brooks
NOW PLAYING to April 3, 2005.
Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, 30 Bridgman Avenue.
BOX OFFICE: (416) 536.5018.
Performances and prices:
Tuesday – Saturday at 8pm, $27 - $33;
Saturday matinee at 2:30pm, $27
Sunday at 2:30pm PWYC or $15 in advance;
Special prices for seniors & students $18 - $27
Except Saturday night
Tickets for Half Life are available online through TO TIX @ www.totix.ca.
BOX OFFICE & INFORMATION: 416-531-1827
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