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ELEPHANT WAKE WHERE: HISTORIC THEATRE AT THE CULTCH (1895 Venables Street, Vancouver, BC) WHEN: MAR 16 - 20, 2010 @ 8pm SPECIAL DETAILS:
Mar 17: Pay-What-You-Can performance (at door only) TICKETS: SINGLE TICKETS: $27-$40 BOX OFFICE: www.tickets@thecultch.com or 604-251-1363
What do you do when you are the last surviving member of a community? Elephant Wake, part 4 of The Cultch's 4-part Winter Series, is a haunting and critically acclaimed work by Saskatchewan playwright Joey Tremblay. On the surface, this is a story of a defunct francophone village and a neighbouring prosperous English township. However, writer/performer Joey Tremblay and director/designer Bretta Gerecke have created a visually compelling character study about a last man standing. Jean Claude is the only remaining resident of Ste. Vierge, Saskatchewan - a francophone town once populated mostly by Jean Claude's large Catholic family. But now, everyone has either died or moved away in pursuit of the "fancy" offerings of the new neighboring English town, Welby. Jean Claude reminisces about his early life in Ste. Vierge. Through a child's perspective, he recounts stories of growing up as the youngest member of a huge family, his adventures as a funeral singer and as a French schoolboy in an English school with his friend 'Tit Loup, and his Uncle Elis, who lived in a shack in the valley with a Métis man called le Gros Cackoo. The remarkable characters in Jean Claude's life had a huge impact on the impressionable young boy. In a desperate attempt to revive his beloved dying town, Jean Claude hatches a plan. Joey Tremblay received the Edinburgh Fringe First Award for Outstanding New Work in Scotland for Elephant Wake. Globe Theatre in Regina commissioned him to revisit and expand his heroic script to a full-length production for this presentation. He affirms that this production is not an autobiographical tale or a statement about the "two solitudes" in Canada but more a story about naiveté, hope and nostalgia set against inevitable economic progress. Director Bretta Gerecke also gave her artistic expertise to the story as set, lighting and costume designer. She is a recipient of 13 Elizabeth Sterling Hayes Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Set and Lighting Design and The Enbridge Award for Best Emerging Artist. The full-length version of Elephant Wake was commissioned by Globe Theatre and premiered in February 2008. Elephant Wake plays in The Cultch's Historic Theatre March 16 - 20, 2010.
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