World Premiere: Electric Company Theatre Unites All-Star Canadian Cast in Film/Stage Hybrid

Electric Company Theatre Merges Film and Stage with Hard-Hitting
World Premiere, The Full Light of Day

All-Star Cast and Creative Team Weave Technical Wonder into Thrilling Drama of Real Estate Corruption & One Family’s Unravelling

Electric Company Theatre, in association with Banff Centre for Art and Creativity and BMO, presents the world premiere of Siminovitch prize-winning playwright Daniel Brooks’ provocative new work, The Full Light of Day, from January 7–12, 2019 at the Vancouver Playhouse. Directed by Kim Collier, this suspenseful and compelling hybrid of theatre and film is a modern allegory in which a terminally ill woman confronts the choices that brought her family privilege; and then, with great courage, takes a risk to secure their ultimate redemption. Utilizing 14 live-streaming cameras, state-of-the-art projections and film, The Full Light of Dayimmerses audiences in rich cinematic cityscapes, intimate inner lives, and invites them to reimagine the limitations of live theatre.

“Other than the weather, real estate may well be our country’s most frequently discussed topic. In this work, we dive deeper – and consider the consequences of a society grown obsessed with property and possession,” says Director Kim Collier, who, like playwright Brooks, is also a winner of theatre’s highest honour, the Siminovitch Prize. “Consequently, it raises questions about the very nature of land ownership. How can we own land? Land owns us. It is us. Paradoxically, by using live-streaming cameras and an enormous array of projection technologies, audiences will be able to feel an innately rich and intimate connection to our characters’ inner lives and truly experience that pang of self-recognition in the stories reflected onstage.”

Part theatre, part film,The Full Light of Day highlights the tough moral choices facing Canadians today and forces audiences to confront their own complicity in the systematic corruption and ethical conundrums that underline modern society. With the pacing of a thriller, the work brings the audience into the swirling world of high finance and corporate intrigue set in Canada’s urban centres.

Complementing the stage work, company Co-Founder Kevin Kerr has created a collection of short films shot in 360° Virtual Reality. The works can be viewed separately from the theatre production or experienced at special installations located throughout the Vancouver Playhouse lobby. Enhancing the stage production, these films are told from the perspectives of the individual principal characters, placing the viewer inside their actions and perceptions. These separate films will also be available to the public for free viewing in the Playhouse lobby during the afternoons prior to performances of The Full Light of Day.

The Full Light of Day marks the return of large-scale theatre to Vancouver Playhouse. Since the closure of the venue’s titular company in 2012, after 50 years of operation, the venue has not played regular host to dramatic works of this scope and size. Electric Company Theatre’s intention is to address this in future years by re-animating the space with annual productions.

“We look forward to welcoming Vancouver’s theatre audiences back to the Playhouse, and deepening Electric Company and the Vancouver theatre community’s connection to our civic theatre in the years to come,” adds company Artistic Producer Clayton Baraniuk.

The Full Light of Day unites an A-List cast and production team that includes some of Canada’s most luminary and award-winning talents. Award-winning film and stage actress Gabrielle Rose, who has appeared in The Sweet Hereafter, Maudie, and the recent TIFF film Kingsway, plays the ailing Mary. Jim Mezon, an ensemble member of the Shaw Festival since 1980, plays the corrupt patriarch, Harold.

Dean Paul Gibson, known to Vancouver audiences as a mainstay actor at Bard on the Beach, plays the arrogant (yet anxiety-prone) David–one of Mary and Harold’s sons. Genie nominee Jillian Fargey (Protection) plays the no-nonsense wife of David. Jonathon Young, star of the Olivier Award-winning Betroffenheit, plays Joey– another of Mary and Harold’s sons, whose mysterious disappearance fuels much of work’s action. Also featured in the ensemble are John Ng (Kim’s Convenience), Jenny Young (Saving Hope) among others.

The extraordinary creative team includes Kevin Kerr, the production’s dramaturg and the director of the companion suite of virtual reality films who won a Governor General’s award for his play Unity (1918). Brian Johnson, the director of photography, has worked on numerous film and TV projects, including Netflix’s The Killing. Also included on the luminary creative team are internationally acclaimed artists including set designer Julie Fox, lighting designer Michael Walton, costume designer Nancy Bryant, composer Peter Allen, projection designer Jamie Nesbitt, and sound designer Brian Linds.

About Electric Company Theatre (ElectricCompanyTheatre.com)
Electric Company Theatre is one of Canada’s leading creators of live theatre, rich in spectacle and adventurous in form, challenging theatrical conventions while preserving a strong sense of story.  Originally formed as a collective in 1996, Electric Company’s Artistic Core collaborators include award-winning author and playwright Carmen Aguirre, Siminovitch Prize-winning director Kim Collier, Governor-General’s award-winning playwright Kevin Kerr, and Olivier Award-winning playwright and actor Jonathon Young.

Electric Company Theatre has toured throughout Canada, to the US and the UK and co-founded Progress Lab 1422, a 6,000 sq ft theatre creation space in Vancouver BC, with Rumble Theatre, Neworld Theatre and Boca del Lupo. Over its 20 year history, Electric Company has created more than 23 original works including Betroffenheit, Tear the Curtain!, No Exit, Studies in Motion, Brilliant!, and the feature film The Score.

 

LISTING INFORMATION Electric Company Theatre presents The Full Light of Day
Dates: January 7-12, 2018
Ticket Prices: $19.99–$59.99
Venue: Vancouver Playhouse
600 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, BC
Tickets and Info: ElectricCompanyTheatre.com

 

Media release provided by Ashley Daniel Foot, Murray Paterson Marketing Group. Image credit: Don Lee

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