What happens when an unlikely collection of strangers sign up for a small-town Adult Creative Drama class?
That's the premise of Circle Mirror Transformation, an Arts Club Theatre show that's on tour starting this weekend, with a stop at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby March 13.
The play looks at what happens to the lives of the students in the drama class - a recently divorced carpenter, a high school junior, a former actress, and the teacher's husband - and how the silly games they play result in real-life drama.
It was written by 30-year-old American playwright Annie Baker, a rising star in the theatre world, and premiered in October 2009 to critical acclaim. It won the 2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play.
"I knew I wanted the audience to learn about the characters through formal theatre exercises," Baker said. "I knew I wanted there to be excruciating silences. I knew I wanted a doomed class romance that left one character embarrassed and the other heartbroken. I knew I wanted the characters to deliver monologues as each other."
Baker noted she wants the audience to know the characters intimately by the end of the play.
"I also wanted to show how beautiful and noble it is when people throw themselves earnestly and unselfconsciously into something, even if it's a therapeutic re-enactment."
Nicola Cavendish is directing the production, which stars Cherise Clarke, Alex Diakun, Emilee-Juliette Glyn-Jones, Brian Linds and Donna White.
The touring production opens Feb. 18 at the ACT in Maple Ridge, with performances in Surrey Feb. 21 to March 3, West Vancouver on March 5, Coquitlam March 6 to 10, Mission March 12 and Burnaby's Shadbolt Centre on March 13.
For tickets to the Burnaby show, call 604-205-3000.
For full details about the production, see www.artsclub.com.
