For Immediate Release: January 10, 1999
A magical theatrical experience Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland's Under Wraps: A Spoke Opera
Vancouver audiences will have their first opportunity to experience a stunning new theatrical style that has taken east-coast audiences by storm when Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland's Under Wraps: A Spoke Opera comes to the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.
Under Wraps is, on the surface, a story of unrequited love between a gay man and his straight best friend. That's on the surface. But what about the sixteen-person chorus under a huge parachute cloth? This shape-shifting chorus functions as a set, musical accompaniment, and as the hero's conscience, repeatedly mocking his motivations in this funny, vibrant, and visually stunning show.
Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland's Artistic Director, Jillian Keily, has created a startingly original staging style called kaleidography, which transforms the entire cast and stage into a unified image of patterns and shapes, constantly flowing into new images as smoothly as if one were looking through a kaleidoscope. The basis of this concept is a precisely timed grid style of choreography that has a central rhythmic structure on which all sight and sound are based. The resulting symphony of colour, movement and sound can only be described as theatre at its most spectacular.
Under Wraps is a collaboration between playwright-performer Robert Chafe, composer/musical director Patricia Bromley, and director Jillian Keily, who in 1997 was awarded the Canada Council's prestigious John Hirsch Prize for innovation in theatre directing.
Under Wraps is co-presented by the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and Rumble Productions, and runs at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre Tuesday, January 25 to Saturday, January 29. Following the performance on Wednesday, January 26, director Jillian Keily and the cast will invite audience members behind the scenes for a closer look at their techniques.
Under Wraps:
A Spoke Opera
January 25-29, 2000 $24/$18
Vancouver East Cultural Centre
1895 Venables Street (at Victoria)
Co-presented by the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and Rumble Productions