Ensemble Theatre Company will kick off its fourth annual Repertory Festival this weekend with the openings of the following three plays: Betrayal, The Romans in Britain and The Country Wife.
Good things come in threes – three tacos, three-day weekends, three slices of pizza (don’t judge). That’s why Ensemble Theatre Company, a Vancouver-based theatre company, is launching three different plays this weekend. While most theatre companies are content with presenting one show at a time, Ensemble Theatre Company has thrown its caution to the wind and will be opening Betrayal, The Romans in Britain and The Country Wife this weekend as part of its fourth annual Repertory Festival.
What’s the scoop on this trio of plays? Below are descriptions of each, as posted on Ensemble Theatre Company’s website:
BETRAYAL
By Harold Pinter
“Playwright Harold Pinter strips away all artifice. Betrayal shows heartlessly that our very capacity for love itself is so often based on betraying loved ones, and even ourselves.
A riveting story proceeding through the interlocking love and lives of three close friends: Robert and Emma, who are husband and wife, and Jerry, Robert’s best friend since college.”
Directed by: Matthew Bissett
Cast: Corina Akeson, James Gill, Tariq Leslie
Opening night: Thursday, July 14, 2016
THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN
By Howard Brenton
“Julius Caesar’s Roman invasion of Celtic Britain is contrasted with the Saxon invasion of Romano-Celtic Britain, and finally Britain’s involvement in Northern Ireland during the Troubles of the late 20th Century.
Scenes bleed into one another, with Brenton speculating what it may have been like for these cultures to clash; Roman soldiers assaulting young Celts. A Saxon stumbling into a field. An army intelligence officer losing his mind in the Irish fields.
Brenton summons a lost history of cultural collision and oppression, fears and sorrow.
Directed by Richard Wolfe
Cast: Dave Campbell, Chad Ellis, James Gill, Alysson Hall, Ennis Hannah, Alexis Kellum-Creer, Yurij Kis, Arianna McGregor, Michelle Morris, Derick Neumier, Ashley O’ Connell, Gregory Radzimowski, Christine Reinfort, Ryan Scramstad, Rebecca Walters, Francis Winters
Opening night: Friday, July 15, 2016
THE COUNTRY WIFE
By William Wycherly
“No one is spared Wycherly’s satirical pen: the humourless, the jealous, and the adulterous alike. The Country Wife has provoked powerfully mixed reactions over the years, challenging prudery and accepted custom. It is a Restoration masterpiece: sexually frank, and as ready to skewer marriage as it is infidelity, the virtuosity, linguistic energy, brilliant wit, naughtiness and complexity of this ribald play have made it a staple of the modern stage.”
Directed by: Tariq Leslie
Cast: Dave Campbell, Masae Day, Chad Ellis, Alysson Hall, Alexis Kellum-Creer, Arianna McGregor, Michelle Morris, Derick Neumier, Gregory Radzimowski, Christine Reinfort, Ryan Scramstad, Francis Winters
Opening night: Saturday, July 16, 2016
All performances are at the Jericho Arts Centre. For tickets and more information, visit Ensemble Theatre Company's website.