By Dana Dzubas
If the food was any indication, the Great Canadian Theatre Company’s next season will be sinfully decadent.
On April 2, the GCTC kicked off its 2001-2002 season in style, offering attendees a smorgasbord for the senses.
The evening began with finger foods from shrimp to fruit- topped pastries to feed the hungry. There was even beer and wine to help it all slide down.
Treats for the soul weren’t far behind.
Artistic director Lorne Pardy says he’s thrilled with the success of his first season with the company and is optimistic that the upcoming season will fare just as well.
“I learned the audience likes to laugh and be moved. They like wit,” says Pardy. “So I wanted to expand on that and provide more comedy.”
A group of seven actors read excerpts from each of the six regular-season plays, whetting everyone’s appetite for the season of theatre to come.
The Forest, a comedy by Arthur Milner about a retired businessman who decides to create his own Garden of Eden, will open the season.
Bea’s Niece is the second play in the lineup. It’s a humorous but touching look at a successful, but mentally unstable novelist’s attempt to distinguish between reality and the ghosts of her past.
The early winter will bring
A Guide to Mourning, a dark comedy about dealing with grief and family.
The new year starts off with The Begats. It’s a comedy about the tragedy of not being able to choose which family to be born into.
Next spring will bring more than flowers. It’ll also bring drama and pie: Perfect Pie. Two once-inseparable women are reunited after 20 years only to clash with one another as each one faces her life choices and a long-buried secret.
The last play of the season, Art, will be a comedic debate over personal artistic taste between three friends after one character buys a plain white painting.
The season will also include two special events.
The first, St. Nicholas, will be presented in co-operation with New Theatre of Ottawa. It’s a play that tries to get even with the theatre critic by criticizing him or her.
The Trip, a guest appearance by Jest in Time Theatre, is an autobiography of sorts, as it recounts the troupe’s travels over the past 16 years.
Pardy says he chose these plays because he wants to do more than distract his audiences from their daily lives for an evening. He wants to involve them in what’s happening on stage.
“I want them to leave having been through an experience, whether they laughed till they cried or were engaged in some other way,” says Pardy.
“It’s not just about entertainment.”