FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 17, 2003
Media Refer: Dianne Weinrib / Amy Stewart D.W. Communications
416-703-5479 Fax 416-703-5465 dwc@total.net N.B. PLEASE NOTE
CAST CHANGE – DAN LETT REPLACES FAB FILIPPO FROM PREVIOUS
RELEASE.
Moses
Znaimer and Citytv present the Necessary Angel Theatre Company
and Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage co-production
of
TAMARA
GROUNDBREAKING, INTERNATIONAL SENSATION RETURNS!
WEAR
SENSIBLE SHOES!
Twenty-two
years after its groundbreaking Toronto launch, and for the
first time since, Necessary Angel Theatre Company’s
legendary environmental theatre event, Tamara,
written by John Krizanc and directed by Richard
Rose, triumphantly returns, co-produced with Harbourfront
Centre as part of the du Maurier World Stage festival, presented
by Moses Znaimer and Citytv. Tamara
previews April 1 and 2, and runs April 3-13
at the elegant Graydon Hall Manor, 185 Graydon
Hall Drive. With only 100 people allowed in at each performance,
Tamara is one of the most sought-after
theatrical events to be held during the festival.
Co-conceived
by John Krizanc and Richard Rose,
Tamara is widely regarded as the
first fully interactive drama ever produced, and has travelled
the globe with productions in New York (four years), Los Angeles
(a record-breaking ten years), Rome, San Paolo and more, garnering
a long list of accolades along the way.
In Tamara
there are ten characters, ten settings, ten plays within a
play. In an atmosphere haunted by decadence and the spectre
of fascism in 1927 Italy, the audience become secret voyeurs,
spying on a group of aristocrats and their servants as they
play out their loves and betrayals.
The play
is performed not in a theatre or even on a set, but in a mansion
– in bedrooms, ballrooms, stairways, halls and even
the garden. Audience members create their own play by choosing
one, or more, of the characters to follow from scene to scene.
Do you follow the poet, the artist, the valet, the ballerina,
the chauffeur or the maid? Do you watch the seduction or follow
the sound of a scream? Do you crowd around the bed, or clatter
down the stairs in hot pursuit of an unfolding liaison, all
the while being treated as invisible by the actors? The audience
create their own Tamara experience. A wine and dessert intermission
allows the audience to interact with each other, filling in
each other’s gaps in the story. According to the creators,
Krizanc and Rose, “There is no correct story. No blind
alley. It is up to the audience to choose the play they wish
to see. Our only advice is to wear sensible shoes.”
The play
imagines an encounter between the young Polish art deco artist,
Tamara de Lempicka (Tamara Hickey -2 Best
Actress Gemini nominations for CTV’s The Associates,
Global TV’s Blue Murder) and the Italian poet/military
hero Gabriele d’Annunzio (John Gilbert-Stratford
and Shaw Festivals; Necessary Angel’s Seven Lears, The
Europeans) at d'Annunzio's palazzo – rife with political
intrigue, deception, desire and murderous intent – where
he is under house arrest.
Their
story is just one of many in this complex and entertaining
drama peopled with artists, sycophants and servants played
out all over the opulent villa to which entry is gained only
with a passport stamped by a Fascist policeman (Victor
Ertmanis - Necessary Angel's The Piper and 7 others).
The light-fingered housemaid is played by Ellen Dubin
(LA. version of Tamara, YPT's A Servant of Two Masters), the
dilettante composer by David Dunbar (New
York Tamara, Stratford Tyrone Guthrie Award,
World Stage's Anything That Moves), Maggie
Huculak (NAT's King Lear, Seven Lears, Mein and 7
others) reprises her role of the ex-mistress from the original
Tamara for which she received a Dora nomination, Dan
Lett (CBC TV’s Made In Canada-2 Gemini Awards,
Sullivan Entertainment's Wind At My Back, Queer As Folk, 9
seasons at Shaw) portrays the mysterious chauffeur, Roger
McKeen (NAT's Passchendaele, TV's The 11th Hour,
Queer as Folk) reprises his role as d'Annunzio's valet from
the original Tamara, d'Annunzio's head housekeeper and confidante
is played by Maria Ricossa (leading roles
3 seasons at Stratford such as King Lear, Twelfth Night) and
the Ballerina who is seeking a recommendation to Diaghilev
in Paris is Amy Walsh (Maid Marion in Ross
Petty's Robin Hood, 4 seasons at Stratford, title role of
Anne at London's Grand).
Environmental
and costume design is by Charlotte Dean;
lighting design is by Graeme Thomson; choreography
is by the esteemed Peggy Baker; the stage
manager is Beatrice Campbell, the assistant
stage manager is Mike Deschambeault.
***
STAR!
AND BRAVO! TO AIR SPECIALS ON TAMARA!
And, if
you just can't get enough of Tamara,
be sure to watch Star! The Entertainment Information Station
special, Star! Inside Tamara, to air on Sunday,
April 6th at 8pm ET, as well as the Bravo! special
broadcast on Wednesday, April 9 at 9pm ET
featuring interviews with key players, behind-the-scenes rehearsal
footage and lots more.
NECESSARY
ANGEL THANK YOUS
Necessary
Angel Theatre Company is enormously grateful for the major
support for Tamara provided by Inniskillin Wines, Dufflet
Pastries and Olympus Management. A Tamara-inspired coffee
blend will be served courtesy of Dark City Coffee Company.
A restored 1908 Bluthner piano from the Restored Classics
Collection has been generously donated to the Tamara production
by Remenyi House of Music. Tamara de Lempicka reproduction
paintings are courtesy of Off the Wall Framing Art and Framing
Gallery.
Necessary
Angel would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts,
the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council for
their on-going support for the company's brand of risk-taking
theatre.
TAMARA
TIMES, PRICES & DIRECTIONS:
TAMARA
is performed at Graydon Hall Manor, 185 Graydon Hall Drive
Graydon Hall Drive is 2 lights north of York Mills, on the
east side of Don Mills Road (www.graydonhall.com)
TAMARA
previews April 1 & 2, and runs April 3-13
Tuesday-Sunday at 8pm with matinees at 2pm on Saturday and
Sunday
Previews
April 1 & 2 are $100; all other performances are $125.
For tickets (limited to 100 people per show),
call the Harbourfront Centre Box Office at 416-973-4000
*****
One of the most trail-blazing
events in the history of Toronto theatre
–Martin Knelman Toronto Star
A
shot of adrenalin … a story filled with intrigue and
good-natured decadence… stimulating
–Mel Gussow The New York Times
A
most imaginative and seductive evening… brilliant
–The Times (London)
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