After her professor pans her doctoral thesis on Shakespeare, a student finds herself transported into the Bard's world, where she inadvertently sends his stories in hilarious new directions - and finds her true self along the way.
That's the premise of the comedic play Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), the latest production by the departments of theatre and stagecraft at Douglas College.
The play, which runs March 9 to 17, tells the story of a Constance, a modern-day academic who finds a new awareness of herself through dreamlike experiences of two Shakespeare plays: Othello and Romeo and Juliet.
When her professor criticizes her thesis - that the two tragedies were originally written as comedies - Constance finds herself transported to the worlds of the two plays, where she interferes in the action.
This leads to unexpected results for the characters - and for herself.
The play stars Burnaby resident David Hollinshead in the roles of Romeo, Iago and Ghost.
Allan Lysell, director, said audience members need only have a friendly knowledge of Shakespeare to appreciate the play.
"It's good to know that Romeo and Juliet are the classic lovers who die tragically for each other and that Othello murders his wife, Desdemona, because of the jealousy created by the evil Iago," Lysell said in a press release. "But even those with only the knowledge that Shakespeare was some English guy who wrote plays in poetry a long time ago will have a good time with the thoroughly modern story."
Lysell said he chose to put on the play because it has all the elements of storytelling he loves: action, great language, a happy ending and high and low comedy.
"Good comedy is life-affirming and laughter-making. Laughter is good for us. That includes laughter generated by slapstick, parody, satire, puns, language or jokes. Goodnight has all of this, plus sword fights and some pretty bawdy action and language," he said.
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) runs March 9 to 17 at the Studio Theatre at Douglas College, Room 4140 at 700 Royal Ave.
Tickets are $8 to $12 and are available at 604-521-5050.
For more, see www.douglascollege.ca.
