There’s a saying about the weather in Michigan – if you don’t like it, stick around, because it’s bound to change.
It’s not a bad metaphor for the local theatre scene. If you don’t like what’s showing at one theatre, look around the corner… there’s bound to be something that’s more your cup of tea.
Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company serves up a wicked cup of tea – opening the new season on September 16th with nothing less than the Father of Modern Drama himself, Henrik Ibsen, and his masterpiece, Rosmersholm.
Directed by Frannie Shepherd-Bates, this rarely staged play takes aim at how political motivations can destroy relationships and lives.
It’s the story of Johannes Rosmer, who struggles to keep his relationship with his late wife’s friend – Rebecca West – strictly platonic, especially given the rumors that continue to follow his wife’s suicide. When Rosmer refuses to become editor for his brother-in-law’s conservative newspaper and embraces a more liberal position, things turn especially ugly.
‘The political climate in 1880s Norway was not unlike that which is currently prevalent in the United States,’ notes Executive Artistic Director Frannie Shepherd-Bates. ‘Ibsen wrote this play as a result of what he witnessed there: after a liberal government replaced one that was conservative, extreme politics tore friends and families apart. Ibsen’s views on these events are beautifully painted in this dark and intriguing play that is full of mystery, symbolism and complex psychology.’
The cast includes Jon Ager (Bloomfield Hills), Dave Davies (Warren), Keith Kalinowski (Ann Arbor), Alysia Kolascz (Ann Arbor), Dominique Lowell (Royal Oak) and Richard Payton (Bloomfield Hills). Katie Orwig exhibits her scenic design; lighting by Neil Koivu; costumes by Barbie Amann Weisserman.
Ibsen was a major influence on many of the playwrights we admire most, including George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Eugene O'Neil. Take advantage of the rare opportunity to see what they saw … the powerful words of Ibsen in a fully staged production. Rosmersholm runs September 16-October 9, 2011 at 1515 Broadway, in Detroit (by the Opera House) with performances on Friday and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. There will be one Sunday matinee on October 2.
Tickets are $15-$18, with pay-what-you-can tickets available at all performances. Tickets can be reserved by phone at 313-408-7269 or online; for more informatione-mail info@magentagiraffe.org
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