The latest production from Surrey’s Naked Stage readers theatre company is about to go on a mini tour of Newton, South Surrey and White Rock.
A play about one family’s struggle with dementia, Francois Archambault’s You Will Remember Me will hit the “black box” theatre at Newton Cultural Centre from Feb. 28 to March 1 before playing Turnbull Gallery at South Surrey Recreation and Arts Centre (March 4), White Rock Playhouse (March 6) and The Drama Class studio (March 7, at 15240 Thrift Ave., White Rock).
Show details are posted to the company’s website, nakedstage.net, and also brownpapertickets.com.
The play features Cindy Wray Peterson (as Madeleine), Monique Tanguay (Isabelle), Tomas Gamba (Patrick), Fred Partridge (Eduard) and Cheyenne Botham (Berenice).
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As with all Naked Stage shows, only scripts and chairs are required for the actors – no costumes or sets, only a lit “naked” stage.
Kelly Thompson has produced You Will Remember Me, and Heather-jane Robertson is directing a Naked Stage production for the first time, after appearing in both Love, Loss and What I Wore (as Gingy) and The Savannah Sipping Society (as Dot).
“I enjoy the emphasis on script and character that Readers Theatre brings to audiences,” Robertson noted. “In this production, our talented cast makes the most of this highly-praised script. Their performances lay bare the complications of real life – and the ways we delude ourselves about what matters, and what doesn’t. Funny, moving and deeply challenging, You Will Remember Me can’t be easily forgotten.”
CLICK HERE to read about previous Naked Stage shows in Surrey.
The script, translated by Bobby Theodore, focuses on Eduard Beauchemin, who is in decline. Once a vital part of Quebec’s intellectual elite, he is now unable to remember what he ate for breakfast. His wife Madeleine needs a break from caring for Eduard, and from the things about Eduard that she remembers all too well. A weekend visit to the home of their daughter Isabelle and her new boyfriend Patrick gives Madeline a chance to get away - with another man. One by one, Eduard’s family passes him on to be someone else’s responsibility, until he ends up in the care of Berenice, an 18-year old with an attitude.
Robertson, among directors on the Naked Stage Production Society board, moved here from Ottawa four years ago, according to a bio on the company website.
“Heather-jane has become active with the Semiahmoo Arts Society and the White Rock Players’ Club as well as NSPS. She also serves as a Board member of the Semiahmoo Arts Society. In her professional life, Heather-jane enjoyed good success as a best-selling author of three non-fiction books and spent several years as a professional public speaker. She now gives impassioned speeches to her thriving container garden.”
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tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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