The Phoenix Theatre at the University of Victoria has a well-deserved reputation of presenting some of VictoriaB次元官网网址檚 most exciting theatre productions.
The plays can be eclectic and thought-provoking, funny or tragic but they have one thing in common: they're delivered by some of the most promising young actors who, despite being students in the Department of Theatre, are as professional in their craft as anyone in the business.
And they donB次元官网网址檛 shy away from difficult projects B次元官网网址� evidenced by their coming production of Killing Game.
Killing Game is a play by Eugene Ionesco that starts out with an innocuous portrayal of life and ends up with a mysterious and deadly illness that strikes down everyone that it touches.
In the play, however, Ionesco isnB次元官网网址檛 concerned so much with the death itself as he is with what happens to human beings in a society that perceives itself under threat. ItB次元官网网址檚 a study of how easily the freedom we sometimes take for granted can be compromised and manipulated by fear.
B次元官网网址淥f course, this play canB次元官网网址檛 help but bring forth memories of what happened during the recent COVID pandemic. But itB次元官网网址檚 not about COVID. WeB次元官网网址檝e set it in France in about 1918 during a time frame that would have coincided with the Spanish flu, but itB次元官网网址檚 not about any particular epidemic. ItB次元官网网址檚 about the absurd nature of the human predicament,B次元官网网址� says director Conrad Alexandrowicz.
B次元官网网址淭he absurdity begins with the fact that we are the only species that knows itB次元官网网址檚 going to die, and itB次元官网网址檚 how we deal with that thatB次元官网网址檚 central to this play.B次元官网网址�
The story transports the audience to a town facing a deadly plague and demonstrates how, as the body count rises, accusations begin to fly, tensions rise and the line between whatB次元官网网址檚 real and whatB次元官网网址檚 absurd is blurred. ItB次元官网网址檚 an examination of how the indiscriminate death count turns the community into a mix of hypocrisy, opportunism and paranoia.
But the play isnB次元官网网址檛 all dark, as Ionesco was a proponent of a genre of plays defined as the B次元官网网址榯heatre of the absurd.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淭hese writers, Ionesco included, didnB次元官网网址檛 think there was a distinction between the comic and the tragic,B次元官网网址� Alexandrowicz says. B次元官网网址淔or me itB次元官网网址檚 comedy that has the power to inspire and that involves laughter that is sometimes uncomfortable.B次元官网网址�
As an example, Alexandrowicz reflects back on some of the absurd reactions some people had to the COVID pandemic.
B次元官网网址淟ook at some of the ridiculous things that people believed and still believe B次元官网网址� the conspiracy theories that started as a rumour on social media and before you know it, inspired an absurd mob mentality.B次元官网网址�
Killing Game, like the other plays presented at the Phoenix Theatre, is made possible by the talent of a whole new generation of theatre artists. The productions involve students, not only as actors, but in every aspect of the productions, from design creation and management of sets to costumes, props, sound and lighting.
B次元官网网址淭hese young people are truly inspiring. They are the next generation of theatre professionals, and this is a chance to see their work now,B次元官网网址� Alexandrowicz says.
B次元官网网址淭hese are young people who have lived through a pandemic and who have grown up very quickly B次元官网网址� perhaps too quicklyB次元官网网址� but they are using the theatre and this play to bring you into and expose the world and itB次元官网网址檚 absurdities.B次元官网网址�
Killing Game runs Feb. 13 to 22 at the Phoenix Theatre. Tickets are
