Vancouver Island University Theatre Department students rehearse a scene from The Visitor. Photo Submitted.
February 22, 2022 - 10:30am
WHAT: The Visitor – a play by VIU’s Theatre Department
WHEN: March 2-5 at 7:30 pm
WHERE: VIU’s Malaspina Theatre (Building 310)
What would you do for a billion dollars? Can ridiculous amounts of money buy the scruples of an entire population? Join Vancouver Island University’s (VIU’s) Theatre Department to explore these questions and more in the new adaptation of Friedrich Durrenmatt’s classic tale of justice – The Visit.
The main protagonist, Claire, is a billionairess returning to her hometown with an offer to save it from its destitute state – with one dark condition. The play is a fast-paced, hysterical dive into the theatre of the grotesque, asking philosophical questions through the lens of physical theatre.
Leon Potter, a VIU Theatre Professor who is directing the adaptation he has also written, will take audience members deep into the creative world of a new play that asks probing questions about the relations between morality, justice, wealth and violence.
“This is a physical theatre piece and an exploration of the grotesque, which is really fun comedy. It is sort of a comic layer over top of serious themes and with that it becomes a fast-paced, really stylized type of theatre, which is as much dance as anything else,” says Potter. “It’s a very different form of theatre from what we’ve normally done.
Potter says the theatre of grotesque, a post-First World War theatre movement, is about people who have basically been turned into puppets to follow into these absurd situations and end up going along with them.
The Visitor runs at VIU’s Malaspina Theatre from March 2-5 starting at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $11.62 for students and $16.93 for general admission on Eventbrite or $10 and $15 at the door. The March 2 performance is a preview night and admission is by donation.
Learn more about the cast in a fun interactive feature on VIU Malaspina Theatre’s mainstage website.
For more information about The Visitor please contact Leon Potter by calling 250-619-8231 or emailing Leon.Potter@viu.ca.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Rachel Stern, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University
C: 250.618.0373 l E: Rachel.Stern@viu.ca | T: @VIUNews
Tags: Malaspina Theatre | Announcements
