Radiant Vermin at NLT - Are You a Good Person? Am I?

Last weekend I took in the opening night of Radiant Vermin presented by Northern Light Theatre in the Studio Theatre at the Fringe Theatre Arts Barns. Holy moly what a show! I had seen a bit at the season launch last spring, and had some ideas about what I was in for, but nothing really could’ve prepared me. What the audience is in for is a little bit of a wild ride! We get a hint of what’s coming in the first scene when Ollie and Jill, a young couple played by Eli Yaschuk and Rain Matkin, tell us that they’ve just experienced the garden party from hell, and then they tell us how they got there…

Photos by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography.

Ollie and Jill are a young couple with a baby on the way wanting to move out of their terrible living situation in a run down apartment complex and find their (unaffordable) dream home. After receiving a cryptic letter, they’re approached by Miss Dee (Holly Turner in a striking array of stylish costumes) who tells them they are selected for a special program where they will get their very own fixer-upper house free of charge that they can DIY into their very own dream home. The bones of the house are perfect, and although it needs a lot of work, they jump at the chance because Ollie is very handy and Jill is an interior-design savant. They’ve already warned us that they did terrible things to get their dream house and what follows is indeed a litany of the terrible things they’ve done. Here’s where it gets hard. I don’t wanna spoil anything. Suffice it to say the homeless and itinerant population are sacrificed so that Ollie and Jill can have their dream house. 

Photos by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography.

It's fabulously funny, and I was laughing aloud at so many moments in the show along with the rest of the audience. The last 20 minutes is non-stop hysterical and it was hard to stop laughing! Yaschuk and Matkin have brilliant chemistry with each other and both have a physical vocabulary that belies their young years (they are relatively new grads from the MacEwan Theatre Arts Program). Turner is the temptress that pulls no punches. Director Trevor Schmidt has created a show that is tight and dramatic and, did I mention, hilarious. The piece is supported by Matt Schuurman's amazing projection work and tight choreography from Ainsley Hillyard. This is probably the best show I have seen all season... I'm not joking or exaggerating.

Now, it's not just a "fun" show and I haven't wanted to give too much detail because I do not want to spoil anything. It also a play you leave thinking and talking about, providing a great comment on the consumerist society we live in and how those that want and have and get, find it very easy to forget about those that have absolutely nothing. I found myself thinking about my friends with perfect houses (from my perspective) who talked about needing to renovate this room or that room because they were 5-10 years out-of-date... I found myself thinking about how often I order online, just because... It asks the question, What would you do if it would give you everything you wanted? And then it asks, What if you wanted more? Would you do more terrible things? You can donate to the food bank if you're in any way worried about your answer...

Radiant Vermin runs to May 3rd . Tickets start at $37 but there are also pay-what-you-can and 2 for 1 Nights. You can purchase your tickets here. The space is small and this is such a good show, I would grab them quick!

A Monstrously Exciting Season on the Horizon for Northern Light Theatre!

There were quite a few hints about what might be included in Northern Light Theatre's upcoming season rolling our in advance of their Season Launch last Monday.  Quotes from thrillers and murder mystery authors had me preparing for a spooky and scary line-up. I'm always down for what Northern Light Theatre is offering. They consistently choose the unusual and challenging and deliver with complete design concepts. Unlike other theatres in town, you are more likely to see something that surprises you and makes you think about something you haven't before. 

The new season, titled Making A Monster, presents three plays featuring characters possessing qualities of modern monsters in our midst!

"This season, NLT wants to examine the human capacity to be monstrous to other human beings", says Artistic Director Trevor Schmidt. "We want to ask ourselves and our audience what keeps us from behaving cruelly- and we want there to be discussion. Nobody is immune to terrible actions. We’re all prone to regressive processes. It’s very easy to enter the dark abyss where evil dwells. We all have the capacity to be monsters."

The first show is a World Premiere, Monstress by Trevor Schmidt, starring Julia van Dam and Sydney Williams. A twist on the Frankenstein story (with a reading evocative of the recent Oscar-nominated film Poor Things), one wonders where this will go and who the real monster will turn out to be. I'm looking forward to see the dynamic between the two women - disgraced scientist and horrible creation - and the inevitable conflicts inherent in that relationship. 

Next is the play that sparked the season's theme, Angry Alan by Penelope Skinner, starring Cody Porter. Porter plays the utterly miserable Roger, third assistant manager at a Safeway grocery store. With his life at crisis point, Roger is close to bursting. But when he stumbles upon Angry Alan - an online activist- he finally feels someone is speaking his language. Schmidt said that this was the show that started the search for more monstrous plays and he wondered if it was going to get them in trouble. It explores what happens when an ordinarily tolerant, but dissatisfied man is radicalized by false reasoning online, and begins to blame feminism for all that is wrong in his life. I'm looking forward to squirming in my seat next season. This is most likely the one that's going to make me do so!

The season will wrap up with Radiant Vermin by Philip Ridley, starring new grads Rain Matkin, and Eli Yaschuk, along with NLT favourite Holly Turner. In the modern age of out-of-reach property acquisition, it tells the story of an engaging young couple, Ollie and Jill, who had to do some shocking things to get their dream home. A wickedly comic satire about a young couple offered a 'too good to be true' way onto the property ladder. The scene presented hints at a Faustian bargain, or perhaps a deadly game show. It looks to be the kind of show to make you laugh out loud,... but guiltily. 

I'm looking forward to meeting the monsters up on NLT's stage next season, be they real or imagined, or perhaps living right next door! 

Subscriptions for all three shows are now on sale through Northern Light Theatre's website northernlighttheatre.com. Subscriptions start at $80 VIP pricing until June 1, and single tickets go on sale August 1, 2024.

More October #yegtheatre adventures - Lenin's Embalmers (Studio Theatre) and Origin of the Species (Northern Light Theatre)

When I was in university, one of my part-time jobs was working front of house and bar-tending at the University of Alberta Studio Theatre shows. As a result, I think I saw pretty much every show there from my second year on. I have always loved the atmosphere and aesthetic of the Studio Theatre shows. The plays chosen are always smart and sharp (and unpredictable) and the design concepts are always complete and specific and imaginative. This is certainly the case for Lenin's Embalmers, currently onstage at the Timms. First of all, I was pleased to see not only a Canadian playwright, but an Edmonton playwright being produced. Vern Thiessen is not only the playwright, but he's also onstage as Lenin in this production, and that gives a little more meta to the whole thing (Lenin observes the world after his death; playwright observes his play from within after he's written it). Directed by MFA Candidate Alexander Donovan, the show is darkly funny and intelligent. The cast is excellent, embracing the stylistic choices effortlessly and managing to convey the danger of Soviet Russia while still creating a very fun show. I particularly enjoyed Chris Pereira as the science driven embalmer Vlad, and Doug Mertz in a menacing but buffoonish performance as Stalin. There're a lot of great things to this show. It's also one of those that kept me in the world while I watched it, but sent me to wikipedia when I got home to look up more about Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky and all of that. I was also weirdly reminded of Eva Peron because of the whole embalming thing, but that's another story...

Lenin's Embalmers runs until October 20th at the Timms Centre for the Arts with shows at 7:30 p.m. Show is dark on Sunday, bit there's a Monday night performance and a Thursday matinee.  Click here for tickets.

This afternoon I took in Origin of the Species presented by Northern Light Theatre. I got there early (because I am always early) and lucked out catching the Director's Circle pre-show chat. Director Trevor Schmidt talked about several of his choices in costumes and casting and in play selection. There were also questions from the group and it made for a nice introduction to the work before seeing the play. I really enjoyed the piece. It tells the story of archaeologist Molly (Holly Turner), who finds a pre-historic woman (Kristin Johnston) on a dig, and decides to bring her home to educate her. It's very funny, with a lot of the humour coming from the elastic faced Johnston, who plays wonderfully with the idea of her character discovering the modern world from the perspective of her past. Johnston's ability to play makes her fiercer and sadder moments believable. Turner's take on Molly is an interesting journey, as she begins with the gentle arrogance of the 'one who thinks she knows best' but grows to understand that eventually as the student learns they must be released to the world, and there's a lot of wistfulness and a touch of sadness in that goodbye. The show made me think of the idea that all the cultural rules of the world are made-up, and that it's not always easy to definitively say which are best or right. As we live in a world with many conflicting cultures, it is often only courtesy and a willingness to be open that allows for civility and exchange of ideas.

Origin of the Species runs to October 27th at the Studio Theatre at the ATB Financial Arts Barns with shows at 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday matinees. Click here for tickets.