Director Jim Guedo has been receiving a mixed reaction on Passion Play, his latest incarnation with Wild Side Productions. “What, a passion play with the crucifixion at Christmas?” is one confused reaction. That's right.
Director Jim Guedo has been receiving a mixed reaction on Passion Play, his latest incarnation with Wild Side Productions.
“What, a passion play with the crucifixion at Christmas?” is one confused reaction.
That's right. American playwright Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play is a sort of crucifixion story. In this three-hour production, she explores how three different theatre troupes in three different eras would stage the life of Christ.
She deliberately sets the plays in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, in Germany throughout Hitler's dictatorship and in the United States as Ronald Reagan's presidency peaks.
Ruhl basically has created a play-within-a-play and enhanced the drama and passions that happen backstage, notes Guedo.
Cast for the same number of actors in each epoch, the script requires actors to play the same characters in every era. Through the passage of time, several actors must also play the opposite sex.
“Sarah has a unique voice. It's not quite as poetic as Tony Kushner's Angels in America, but it has a lightness with very important material in the subtext,” says Guedo, who first came across the script in 2009.
Video by April Bartlett
“She takes what might look like standard material and she makes it look unique. She transforms lands and shifts realism and creates surrealism. It's quite sprawling. It shows the breadth of her combined intellect. It's a play of ideas.”
Born into a family that loved theatre – her mother was an actress in Chicago – Ruhl was encouraged from an early age to pursue her love of poetry. Originally intent on making poetry her life's work, she switched to playwriting after studying under Paula Vogel at Brown University.
In casting Passion Play, Guedo cast a wide net and caught some highly respected actors that includes Jesse Gervais, Amber Borotsik, Kristi Hansen, Belinda Cornish, Dave Horak and former Sturgeon County actor Fred Zbryski.
Video by April Bartlett
“Our role is to distil all the emotions and provide clarity. Sarah uses a light touch. She likes people to be in the moment. The play is simple, precise, clear little scenes – snapshots of life. Put them back-to-back and you see a tapestry forming before your eyes.”
Although the play examines global politics, religion, sin and duties we are called to perform in life, Guedo is also looking at the roles people play when they are on-stage and who they are once off-stage.
“It's an amazing play with a great material and a great ensemble. We're not doing a passion play. It's not a story about Christ. It's about three different eras.”
Passion Play runs at the MacEwan Centre for the Arts and Communications from Dec. 6 to 14.
Preview
Passion Play<br />Wild Side Productions<br />Dec. 6 to 14<br />MacEwan Centre for the Arts Theatre Lab<br />10045 – 155 St.<br />Tickets: $25 to $35 at 780-420-1757 or online at tixonthesquare.ca
