by Mervyn Peake

Stage Adaptation by John Constable

September 18 to 27, 2008 Frederic Wood Theatre

P r e s e n t s :

November 13 to 22, 2008 Frederic Wood Theatre

by Kevin Kerr

Directed by Stephen DroverUnity

(1918)

by Carlo Goldoni Translated & Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher & Paolo Emilio Landi

e x t r a e v e n t s e r i e s October 14 to 18, 2008 7:30 pm Dorothy Somerset Studio Theatre

Directed by Stephen Heatley

A Servant of Two Masters

The UBC Department of Theatre and Film presents an intimate conversation with:

Richard Ouzounian (playwright, producer, director, and currently theatre critic for The Toronto Star)

as T H E N A K E D C R I T ICWednesday, September 24, 12-1 pm Dorothy Somerset Studio Theatre 6361 University Boulevard Everyone is welcome. Bring your lunch!

by Mervyn Peake

Stage Adaptation by John Constable

Directed by Stephen Malloy Scenography by Ronald Fedoruk Costume Design by Carmen Alatorre Songs by Patrick Pennefather Original Music by Cristina Mihaela Istrate Sound Design by Jason Ho

September 18 to 27, 2008 Frederic Wood Theatre

P r e s e n t s :

The opening of a new theatre season is always an exciting event, and in my 36(!) years at UBC I’ve never been more excited than I am about this one. We’ve got world classics (Medea and A Servant of Two Masters), modern Canadian classics (Unity (1918) and Billy Bishop Goes to War), an English Gothic fantasy (Gormenghast), and an American comedy about a Russian novel (The Idiots Karamazov).

Two of these shows are directed by UBC Theatre faculty, two by Theatre alumni—Billy Bishop and Unity, both Governor General’s Award winners written by two of our other alumni—and two by current graduate students in the Theatre Program. All of them feature our Acting, Design and Production students and faculty. We’re also co-presenting with the PuSh Festival the great Québecoise theatre artist Marie Brassard (The Invisible), and we’re involved in various ways with the UBC School of Music Opera Ensemble’s Hänsel und Gretel and Falstaff.

What a fantastic line-up! And wait until you hear the final details of our public symposium, Canada and the Theatres of War, being held in the Frederic Wood Theatre, November 18-19, in conjunction with our Canadian war plays, Billy Bishop and Unity. Confirmed participants so far include historian J.L. (Jack) Granatstein, playwright/directors John Gray, Kevin Kerr, Dennis Garnhum and Judith Thompson, filmmaker Anne Wheeler, theatre scholars Sherrill Grace and Alan Filewod. I guarantee that it will be one of the highlights of the Fall term.

So what better way to blast off this fantastic season than with a literally fantastic play. Translating a complex novel for the stage is never easy. Transporting a cult novel whose fans are fan-atical is doubly challenging (remember the fate of Lord of the Rings, the Musical). Staging a Gothic phantasmagoria that takes place over 14 years “in the crumbling vastness of Gormenghast Castle”—well, if anyone can do it, director Stephen Malloy and his team of UBC Theatre faculty and students can.

So give yourself over to the weird and wonderful pleasures of Gormenghast. And visit us again soon.

Theatrically yours,

Jerry Wasserman Head, Department of Theatre and Film UBC Vancouver

Welcome to Theatre at UBC, 2008-09

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Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy has of late grown far beyond its reputation as a cult classic in the UK and into the mainstream of fantasy, as a book no reader interested in Gothic dare to miss. It is one of the most distinctive, absorbing and wonderfully strange books ever written.

The books are a curious amalgam of fantasy, comedy, and horror, but they don't fit easily into any known genre. No other work rivals the elaborate phantasmagoria of these British classics which novelist Anthony Burgess called “uniquely brilliant” and Punch described as “the finest imaginary feat in the English novel since Ulysses…” The books must be appreciated on their own terms outside the normal categories of fiction as a gigantic feat of sustained invention, a vicarious dream of extraordinary vividness and a triumph of visual writing.

“The Gormenghast trilogy is about Titus Groan and his ascent toward manhood,” writes Robert Ostermann in The National Observer. “But to speak of these novels as being ‘about’ anything is as inadequate as saying The Odyssey is about a man trying to get home to his wife. Such fiction is first and foremost about itself… These novels are not an echo or an imitation of life. Their life is their own – a bizarre, often awe-full life. And it imposes itself with obsessive force on the reader.”

Peake did not originally set out to create a trilogy. If he had remained healthy, he would likely have tracked Titus into old age with a fourth and fifth book. But in the three books he did produce, he created a strange yet substantial kingdom of nightmare and fairy tale, filled with bizarre characters, curiosities, and distortions. It was only after his death in 1968 when the Gormenghast novels were reissued by Penguin that Peake began to achieve the tremendous success and recognition he had been unable to attain in his lifetime.

Today the books have been translated into over 30 lan guages and a sense of myth surrounds the trilogy which has given them the status of modern classics.

About the Gormenghast Trilogy

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Mervyn Peake was a man of many talents, a creative virtuoso, and an eccentric genius. His creative life was cut short, but he provided an abundance of work - enough for several men. Illustrator, painter, poet, novelist and playwright, he represents a creative phenomenon, a man with an intense and individual inner vision that could find expression in a variety of ways.

He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast trilogy; Titus Groan [1946], Gormenghast [1950], and Titus Alone [1959], a work of grotesque Gothic fantasy with a very dark sense of humor to which his vividly imaginative drawing style was well matched (originally, however, the books were published without his accompanying illustrations). These books de-scribe the life of Titus, 77th Earl of Groan in his decaying ancestral home of Gormenghast castle, his struggle to escape from it and to find a new identity. They have been translated into over 30 languages and have achieved a kind of cult status in England, while in North America few have heard of the kingdom of Gormenghast.

Peake was born in Kuling, China, in 1911 to English missionary parents, Ernest Cromwell Peake, a doctor, and Elizabeth (Powell) Peake. He spent his childhood in Tientsin in the North, surrounded by the fragile milieu and destitution of an exotic country in the thick of a collapsing imperial dynasty. China, an ancient country of rich tradition and dense ritual, made a lasting impression on him.

At the age of 12 he returned to England with his family (never to return to China) and attended Eltham College in Kent, Croydon School of Art, and, from 1929 to 1933, the Royal Academy Schools. He exhibited his paintings for the first time in 1931.

When a former professor from Eltham invited him to join the artists' colony on Sark, a small and bleakly beautiful island in the English Channel, Peake moved promptly. He lived and worked there from 1933 to 1935, exhibiting his paintings yearly in London. Some islanders on Sark remarked that they often saw him painting outdoors wearing nothing but an elegant hat. He needed to make a living, and so, in 1936, Peake began teaching at Westminster School of Art. It was there he met and wooed his muse, the painter Maeve Gilmore. This same year he was commissioned to design the sets and costumes for The Insect Play. Mervyn and Maeve were married in 1937 when she was 19 and he was 26. Together they had three children: Sebastian (born in 1940), Fabian (1942), and Clare (1949).

Each day I live in a glass room Unless I break it with the thrusting Of my senses and pass through The splintered walls to the great landscape.

–Mervyn Peake, A Reverie of Bone

MERVYN PEAKE artist, illustrator, novelist, poet (1911 – 1968)

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Before he wrote “the Titus books,” as he called them, Peake was a noted illustrator of classic children's books including Treasure Island and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. His in-depth study of renowned illustrators (including William Hogarth, George Cruikshank, Albrecht Dürer, William Blake, Gustave Doré, and Francisco de Goya) served as the foundation for his own work. His illustrations are now highly sought after.

During World War II Peake served in the army and, after a difficult period during which he failed to be registered as a War Artist he was conscripted and sent into the Royal Artillery, then the Royal Engineers. Ultimately he achieved his ambition when he received an assignment as a War Artist. In 1943 he was commissioned by the British Ministry of Information to paint the glassblowers depicting the manufacture of cathode ray tubes at a Birmingham factory. This experience also resulted in a poem “The Glass Blowers” which became the title poem in a collection. It was while he was in the army that he began work on Titus Groan, a manuscript whose handwritten pages are also covered with vivid illustrations. These illustrations were essential to Peake who observed that: “As I went along I made drawings from time to time which helped me to visualize what sort of things they (the characters) would say.” Peake, often wrote in blank books called “publisher's dummies,” and would send his chapters back to Maeve, who listed them as one of the three things she would save in the event of an air raid. (The other two were children and diapers.)

In 1945 Peake became one of the first civilians to enter the German concentration camp at Belsen two weeks after it’s liberation along with journalist Tom Pocock. Peake’s work was to act as an illustrator of a report on post war Germany for a periodical called The Leader. He produced many drawings, but found the experience harrowing. He was intensely affected by the event and was left with deep impressions of the victims of the war. Startling and disturbing paintings and poems resulted from that traumatic experience. Biographer John Watney wrote, “For years he had drawn strange worlds. Now he was seeing, in its reality, a monstrous world more terrible than any he could have imagined…”

In 1946, the Peakes moved to Sark, living in a huge old house without electricity or running water. Despite the inconveniences, it was a blissfully happy time for them all. Peake worked on his paint-ings, drawings, and Gormenghast, and the children lived a life of adventure and exploration, free from the dangers of traffic on the car-free island.

In this same year Titus Groan was published to ecstatic reviews. Groan is a dark and singular reverie on a grand scale. Its spectacular milieu of imagination and nightmare is extremely detailed, surreal, and visually precise. Peake wrote with the eye of a painter. Gormenghast, the second “Titus” book, was published in 1950. It received some excellent reviews and Peake was awarded the Royal Society of Literature prize (£100) for Gormenghast (and his volume of poetry, The Glassblowers).

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The need for a steady income again necessitated the Peakes' return to London. Mervyn taught part time at the Central School of Art, and in 1953, after the death of his father, moved his family to his parents’ house south of the city, began his comic novel Mr Pye, and renewed his interest in theatre. Mr Pye was published in 1953, and he later adapted it as a radio play. The BBC broadcast other plays of his in 1954 and 1956.

Peake wrote and struggled to produce a play, The Wit to Woo, which opened in 1957, but ran for only a brief time. This undertaking presaged a rapid decline in Peake's health. Titus Alone, written during his continued illness, was published in 1959. Although Peake’s works made a profound impression on a number of eminent writers and artists, they still did not reach a vast public or greatly improve his often precarious financial status.

He was first diagnosed as having a nervous breakdown and spent the next 12 years struggling with poor health while doctor after doctor struggled for a diagnosis. In the search for a cure, he underwent electric shock treatments and had an operation on his brain. In fact, he had Parkinson's disease, some of the known symptoms of which include language problems, memory loss and hallucinations. This disease was allied with Encephalitis Lethargica, or 'sleeping sickness,' which he had contracted in 1911 during the epidemic that had swept the part of China where he was born. In his case it lay dormant for over thirty years.

When it became impossible for Maeve to care for him at home, he was moved to institutions, finally dying in November of 1968, at the age of 57, in a hospice in Burford, near Oxford, run by Maeve's caring younger brother Dr. James Gilmore.

After his death came numerous biographies and many collections of Peake's previously un-published work. A 1995 edition of all three completed Gormenghast novels includes a very short fragment of the beginning of what would have been the fourth Gormenghast novel, Titus Awakes, as well as a listing of events and themes he wanted to address in that and later Gormenghast novels.

‘Tall, thin, dark, and haggard… gentle, gracious, unworldly, and unpractical. He lived in many ways outside convention, wearing strange clothes and behaving in a gently whimsical fashion which puzzled the ordinary.” –Dictionary of National Biography

For more information see http://www.mervynpeake.org

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John Constable aka John Crow is a playwright, poet and performer. As an actor John has toured Europe with the theatre groups Sheer Madness – in the prize-winning Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits – Samba Salad, and Kaktus, who produced his first play Space Monkey.

John’s Sha-Manic Plays include his adaptation of Gormenghast along with The Southwark Mysteries and Secret Bankside – Walks In The Outlaw Borough, which are all published by Oberon Books. John’s other plays include Black Mas and Tulip Futures. His solo shows include I Was An Alien Sex God and Raingods Become Me and his radio adaptations of John Wyndham’s novels The Kraken Wakes and Chocky were released on DVD in the BBC’s Classic Radio Sci-fi series.

John gives talks on magic and mysticism, directs community dramas, holds storytelling work-shops and leads unusual guided walks. He is also widely known as John Crow, the south London shaman who channels a Winchester Goose, the spirit of a medieval prostitute allegedly buried in the Cross Bones graveyard, an unconsecrated graveyard going back to medieval times. Historians refer to it as a burial ground for ‘single women’ – a euphemism for the prostitutes who worked in Bankside's legalised brothels or ‘stews.’

Such women were condemned to be buried in unhallowed ground. Yet many were actually li-censed by the church. For some 500 years, the Bishop of Winchester exercised sole authority within Bankside's ‘Liberty of The Clink,’ including the right to licence prostitutes under a Royal Ordinance dating back to 1161. These women became known as ‘Winchester Geese.’

The Southwark Mysteries began in 1996 as a cycle of ‘Vision Books’, mystical poems inspired by the spirit of one such Winchester Goose. By 1999, it had expanded to include a cycle of contemporary ‘Mystery Plays’, first performed as an epic community drama in Shakespeare's Globe and South-wark Cathedral on Easter Sunday (also St George’s Day and ‘Shakespeare’s Birthday’), 23rd April 2000.

John Crow conducts the annual Halloween of Cross Bones and other rituals, initiations and work-shops such as Shamanic Playhouse – teaching ways to access the vision world and transform perceptions of reality. Again often appearing as John Crow, John has performed his poetry and songs world-wide, as well as hosting events such as The Palace of Wisdom, the all-night poetry tent at the Glastonbury Festival.

John Crow’s channeled songs and poems are available on CDs. email: mysteries@boltblue.com websites: www.gooseandcrow.co.uk (film-clips) and www.into.org.uk/SouthwarkMysteries

JOHN CONSTABLE playwright, poet, performer and shaman

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The 76th Countess of Groan is the mother of Titus and Fuchsia, wife to Sepulchrave the Earl of Groan. She has little interest in her family or in the rest of Gormenghast. Instead, she spends her time locked away in her bedroom, in the company of a legion of cats and birds.

Titus's sister, the naïve and impressionable daughter of Lord and Lady Groan, she keeps to herself and her fan-tasies. She can sometimes be an impatient, immature, and self-absorbed brat.

The castle's resident physician. He is an eccentric individual with a high-pitched laugh and a grandiose wit. Despite his acid tongue, he is an extremely kind and caring man who also is greatly fond of Fuchsia and Titus.

Titus's aunts (sisters of Sepulchrave), a pair of identical twins. Both suffered from spasms in their youth, so the left hand sides of their bodies are paralyzed. They have virtually the same personalities and neither is very intelligent. Both crave political power and dislike Gertrude, whom they believe robbed them of their right ful place in the hierarchy of Gormenghast.

The fat, sadistic head chef of Gormenghast. A grotesque and sinister pig of a man, Swelter runs the kitchens in Gormenghast with such tyrannical fervor it's no wonder that lowly minion Steerpike is desperate to escape.

The daughter of Keda (Titus’s former wet nurse) is the foster sister of Titus. Due to her illegitimacy she is an outcast who becomes a feral child living in the wilderness surrounding Gormenghast. She is fierce and untameable. Believing that she is in every way the opposite of Gor-menghast, Titus becomes infatuated with her.

COUNTESS:

FUCHSIA:

DR PRUNESQUALLOR:

CORA & CLARICE:

SWELTER:

THE THING:

Characters

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76th Earl and Titus's father. He is a melancholy man who feels shackled by his duties as Earl, although he never questions them. His cherished escape is reading in his library.

The main character of the Gormenghast series, and heir to the Earldom of Gormenghast. He succeeds to the title of 77th Earl whilst still a child, but as he grows older, he develops ambivalent feelings toward his home. He is torn between pride in his lineage and the desire to escape from the castle and its traditions.

Follows his father into the role of Master of Ritual directing the Earl and his family in the directing the Earl and his family in the rigid traditions and superstitions that have governed the castle for hundreds of years. He is a consummate misanthrope.

An ancient Retainer to the House of Groan he is Lord Sepulchrave's personal servant. Flay believes in strictly holding to the rules of Gormenghast. Nevertheless, he is not completely hard-hearted and cares a great deal for Titus and Fuchsia.

A youthful outsider, beginning as a kitchen boy, who worms his way into the hierarchy of Gormenghast for his own personal gain. He has a machiavellian, highly intelligent and methodical mind and a talent for manipulation.

SEPULCHRAVE:

TITUS:

BARQUENTINE:

FLAY:

STEERPIKE:

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Cast

Chorus the Voices of Gormenghast

Countess Gertrude, Countess of Groan; mother of Titus

Barquentine Master of Ritual

Sepulchrave 76th Earl of Groan; father of Titus

Dr Prunesquallor Physician to the House of Groan

Fuschia Titus’ elder sister

Cora & Clarice Sepulchrave’s sisters; Titus’ twin aunts

Flay ancient Retainer to the House of Groan

Swelter the Cook

Steerpike a kitchen boy

Titus 77th Earl of Groan; heir to Gormenghast

The Thing an outcast wild child

The Ensemble Grey Scrubbers, servants, guards

Puppeteer

Ensemble

Becky Shrimpton

Colin Ormiston

Jeff Kaiser

Tianna Nori

Kristine Jesudason

Maryanne Renzetti & Jocelyn Gauthier

Michael Neale

Maryanne Renzetti

Kevin Stark

Jeff Kaiser

Jocelyn Gauthier

Ensemble

Jeanna Haddow

The action takes place over fourteen years, in the crumbling vastness of Gormenghast Castle, a closed, changeless world, bound by ancient rituals.

Gormenghast

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Director Scenographer Costume Designer Songs & Sound Design Supervisor Original Music Sound FX Designer Voice Coach Assistant Director Assistant Scenographer Assistant Costume Designer Voiceover Artist

Production Manager Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager - Costumes Assistant Stage Manager - Props Technical Director

Costumes Supervisor Costume Cutter Production Wardrobe Head Make-up & Wig Artist Make-up & Wig Artist’s Assistant Make-up Assistants Wig Assistant Costume Building Assistants Dressers

Properties Supervisors Production Properties Head Properties Builder The Ivy League

Set Construction Production Electrics Head Scenic Artist Scenic Painters

Lighting Operator Sound Operator Follow Spot Operator Stage Crew

ProductionStephen Malloy Ronald Fedoruk Carmen Alatorre Patrick Pennefather Cristina Mihaela Istrate Jason Ho Brad Gibson Catriona Leger Wladimiro Woyno Jessy Jaffery Bronwyn Malloy

Jay Henrickson Stephanie Meine Amy Tipton Megan Gilron Jim Fergusson

Jean Driscoll-Bell Charlotte Burke Chantelle Balfour Jill Wyness Alyssa Satow Saghar Bazargan, Jui Kang Jessy Jeffery Saghar Basargan, Claudia Cantoral, Ella Cho, Flora Guilaut, Celina Jung, Jui Kong, Jen Pitt Nam Bae, Matt Parsons

Janet Bickford, Lynn Burton Kate Minson Wendy Subity, Chap Chan Genevieve Bolduc, Jae Yong Kim, Jamie Labron, Wyatt McRae, Jen Waterhouse

Jim Fergusson, Keith Smith Wladimiro Woyno Lorraine West Skai Fowler, Jeff Hitchcock, Amanda Larder, Jennifer Pitt, Stacy Sherlock, Sally Song Stacy Sherlock Jon Horn Charlott Johansen Genevieve Bolduc, Jae Yong Kim, Yeon Kyeom Kim, Wyatt McRae

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Acknowledgments

Mehmet Sucu, Wei Feng, Dr. William Dunford – UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering, Marie Domingo – UBC Food Services, Nancii Bernard.

A special thanks to all those Theatre at UBC Patrons who have generously donated to the Frederic Wood Theatre Foundation and Theatre at UBC Scholarships. Your assistance in creating the next generation of professional theatre artists is invaluable.

Mr. Malloy and Ms. Leger are participating in this production courtesy of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.

Head, Department of Theatre and Film Associate Head, Theatre Production Business Manager Manager, Technical Production Manager, Communications & Audience Services Manager Marketing & Communications Theatre at UBC & Production Website

Theatre Program & Graduate Secretary Financial Clerk Theatre at UBC Box Office Custodial Services

House Manager Concessions Clerk

Jerry Wasserman Stephen Malloy Gerald John van der Woude Jay Henrickson Ian Patton Deb Pickman Linda Fenton Malloy

Karen Tong Carol Lai Tony Koelwyn, Marijka Brusse Gene Baedo

Carmen Alatorre Stephania Schwartz

Theatre at UBC Administration

Carmen Alatorre: Costume Designer – Carmen comes from Mexico. She is currently in her third and final year as a MFA Theatre Design Student at UBC. Carmen has designed costumes for Futuristi, a series of Italian Playlets, Frederic Wood Theatre, October 2007; The Learned Ladies by Moliere, Frederic Wood Theatre, February 2008 and recently for As You Like It, at the Shakespeare teen festival, Carousel Theatre.

Ronald Fedoruk: Scenographer – Ronald Fedoruk has been teaching Scenography in the Theatre Program since 1989. He has served a term as Head of the Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing and has been Director of first year Arts Foundations Program. Scenography for the Theatre Program has included Herr Puntilla and his Man Matti, Our Country’s Good, Woyzeck, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Sarcophagus, Sunspots, To Have, Beautiful City, Endgame, Over the Moon, Life Without Instruction, Frankenstein, and Arcadia.

From 1993 to 2000, Fedoruk was a Canadian representative to the International Theatre Design Organization (OISTAT), and his work was exhibited in the Prague Quadrennial Scenographic

Biographies

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Exposition in 1995. He has published a number of articles on Scenography in the journals of Associated Designers of Canada, the Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology and the US Institute for Theatre Technology. A thirty-five year Theatre career has seen Fedoruk create designs for The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, the Belfry Theatre, the Bastion Theatre, the Vancouver Opera Association, the Arts Club, the New Play Centre and many more. For six years he was the Scenographer for Bard on the Beach, for which he designed a dozen productions. He is serving his third term as a member of the Board of Directors of Bard on the Beach.

Jocelyn Gauthier: Clarice/The Thing – Jocelyn is very excited to be a part of Gormenghast. This show has been an incredibly rewarding experience, and she feels very privileged to have participated in such a challenging, creative, and compelling show. Jocelyn is in her final year of the B.F.A. Acting program and most recently, she has been seen as “Anastasie” in Old Goriot, “Iphigenia” and “Briseis” in Shadows of Troy, and “The Girl” in Hot L Baltimore. She would like to thank Stephen Malloy for this wonderful opportunity, and her family, friends, and all of the people involved in the production for their unending support and encouragement.

Jason Ho: Sound Design – Jason Ho is currently in his last year of studies in the BFA Theatre Design program. Originally from Taiwan, Jason came to Vancouver to pursue his dream as a computer graphic artist. After completing the 3D Animation and Visual Effects Program at Vancouver Film School, Jason has continued his studies here at UBC to combine his 3D knowledge skills with theatre set, lighting,costume, and sound design. Gormenghast is Jason’s second major production design at UBC, and he would like to thank the entire crew for such a wonderful experience. . Previous show experiences include: Assistant Lighting Designer – The Learned Ladies, Sound Effects Designer – Shadows of Troy, Assistant Set and Lighting Designer – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sound Effects Designer – A Dybbuk.

Cristina Mihaela Istrate: Composer – I was born in Bucharest, Romania of December 17, 1988. At the age of 7, I developed a passion for piano, writing, and acting. During my high school years, I signed up for more acting classes

as well as trying out in talent shows. I developed a high interest in screenwriting, poetry, and piano composition. I also learned on my own how to compose music on the computer. In my last year of high school, I performed in a satire play and dressed up as a doctor. I really enjoyed being on stage and putting silly faces on but I also loved the technical aspects that came with theatre. Now that I am enrolled full-time at UBC, I am majoring in film production and taking up my minor in theatre design. It has been a great opportunity and wonderful experience to be working with UBC’s production team on various shows.

Kristine Jesudason: Fucshia – Kristine arrived in Vancouver in the winter of 2004 from Manila, Philippines where she was born. Upon arrival she spent two and a half years at Douglas College enjoying the acting program and was seen in Frankenstein directed by Allen Lysell and Taming of the Shrew directed by Stephen Drover. Kristine is now in her final year of acting at UBC where she played Clytemnestra in Shadows of Troy directed by Tom Scholte last fall and will appear in Unity (1918) next month directed also by Stephen Drover.

Jeff Kaiser: Lord Groan/Titus – Jeff is excited to start his final year of the program with Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast. Jeff’s previous performances at UBC include: A Dybbuk, directed by David Savoy, The Learned Ladies, directed by Patrick Gauthier, Hot L Baltimore directed by Stephen Malloy, Bringing it All Back Home directed by Camyar Chai, and La Dispute directed by Joanna Garfinkle. Prior to attending UBC Jeff studied the Lecoq Pedagogy under the teachings of Annie Averre. His physical theatre training continued to attending two summer intensive workshops at Dell’Arte International School of Movement Theatre in Blue Lake California: “Extreme Physical Theatre” Stephen Bueschur, “Clown” Ronlin Foreman. Jeff’s physical theatre career includes: working for Imago Theatre Company in Portland Oregon; where he performed and created masks for Big Little Things directed by Carol Triffle and Jerry Mouwad.

Catriona Leger: Assistant Director – Catriona returns to UBC more than a decade after having completed the BFA Acting programme – this time as an MFA in Directing candidate. Her work as an actor, director and instructor has taken her across Canada and to Europe. She most

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recently completed an Artistic Director internship at the Great Canadian Theatre Company. A graduate of Ecole Philippe Gaulier (Paris) and recipient of the J.B.C. Watkins Award for Theatre from the Canada Council for the Arts, Catriona is delighted to be a part of the Gormenghast team. Big thanks to Stephen Malloy for this ghastly experience. Catriona is a member of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.

Stephen Malloy: Director – A prolific writer, musician, director, dramaturg and actor, Professor Malloy was appointed to the University of British Columbia in 1989, having been the co-founder and Artistic Director of the influential Coming Attractions Theatre Company since its inception in 1980. His UBC directing credits include Endgame, Macbeth, Frankenstein, Catastrophe and Brian Friel’s Translations. Many thanks to long time colleague and collaborator Ron Fedoruk and the talented students and staff from UBC’s Theatre Program. And thanks to David Savoy for introducing me to the unforgettable voice of Mervyn Peake. Professor Malloy is a member of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.

Stephanie Meine: Stage Manager – Stephanie is entering into her third year at UBC as a recent inductee into the BFA Theatre Design & Production program, and is proud to credit Gormenghast as her first Stage Management position with a Theatre at UBC production. She would like to say thank you to all of the incredibly talented people surrounding this show who have made it a truly insurmountable experience (hell, crap me!), and to Silvana Pasquariello, whose inspiration she will carry with her forever.

Michael Neale: Mr. Flay – Michael’s past credits include A Dybbuk and Shadows of Troy among others. Michael loves Vancouver and dark, windy, rainy nights, of which he hopes this night is one of them.

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Colin Ormiston: Barquentine – Colin has been involved in theatre since the age of 12. Education includes summers at Bard on the Beach Shakespearean workshops, Douglas College, Fantastic Space, and UBC. Being in such shows as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Sympathetic Magic (Douglas College), Hot L Baltimore and Shadows of Troy (Theatre at UBC). Colin is delighted to be a part of Gormenghast with such a caring production team and supportive cast.

Tianna Nori: Dr. Prunesquallor – Tianna is in her final year in the BFA Acting program at UBC. Previous memorable credits include: Loretta in Featuring Loretta, Artemis and Aphrodite in Shadows of Troy, Suzy in Hot L Baltimore and Meg in Crimes of the Heart. She would like to thank director Stephen Malloy for his patience and wisdom in her crash course in becoming a man. She would also like to thank her family and friends for their never ending love and support.

Patrick Pennefather: Songs – Composer, songwriter, sound designer, producer, musical director, and performer in almost any genre of music imaginable, for over two hundred live and digital media productions in the past 20 years, Patrick is excited to be teaching sound design in the Theatre Program at UBC again this year, encouraging a team approach to productions this season. He is also a core faculty member and sound integration specialist at the Masters of Digital Media University in Vancouver. A multi-award winning composer, his compositions, musicals, songs, sfx, underscores, and jingles have been heard in short and long form productions for clients such as: CBC Radio, Bravo Television, Palmer Jarvis/DDB, RMCC, Cathay Pacific, McDonald’s Special Events, UBC, Florida and California State University, Amnesty International, Virtual Stage, Vancouver Playhouse, Touchstone Theatre, Electric Company Theatre, Vancouver Theatre Sports League, and the Vancouver International Comedy Festival.

Maryanne Renzetti: Cora/Swelter – Maryanne is very excited to be starting off her final year at UBC with this fantastic show. She was last seen as Katharina in Taming of the Shrew (Emerald Pig) in July. Past credits include: a Synergy Sister in The Bucky Show (Seven Tyrants), Armande in The Learned Ladies (Theatre at UBC), Sophie in Featuring Loretta (Theatre at UBC), Clytemnestra in

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Shadows of Troy (Theatre at UBC), Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew (Douglas College) and The Usherette in The Rocky Horror Show (Red Shift Productions).

Becky Shrimpton: Lady Gertrude, Countess of Groan – Becky Shrimpton is delighted to grace the Freddy Wood stage once more as the Lady Gertrude. Previously her appearances on said stage have included Fradde in A Dybbuk. On other stages she has been known to play characters such as Victorine Taillefer in Old Goriot and Electra in Shadows of Troy. She is horribly allergic to cats and finds irony delightful. Thank you for coming and enjoy the Groans.

Kevin Stark: Steerpike – Kevin is thrilled to death to be a part of the world of Gormenghast. As ever, Kevin likes to share his discoveries with each role he tackles. Gormenghast's lesson: Frightening Yourself. Steerpike has been a challenging young man to portray and Kevin has welcomed that challenge with shaky arms and a sweating brow. Kevin would like to extend his thanks to his family, who are always there on opening night, his director Stephen Malloy for his insistence on excellence, and most of all you, the audience. You are the reason actors act. Have a killer time! Oh, and please stretch your legs at intermission, sitting down for a long time can be murder.

17

Written & Composed

by John Gray

with Eric Peterson

Directed by

Sarah Rodgers

Starring

Ryan Beil

Zachary Gray

Billy BiShoP GoES to waR

P r e s e n t s :

october 30 to November 11 t E lU S Studio theatre

tickets: $20/$14/$10 $6 Preview October 29th

telephone: 604.822.2678 www.theatre.ubc.ca

A high-flying ace of a show capturing the

humor, the hellfire, and the derring-do of an

extraordinary career!”

– The New York Times

UP NExt fRom

thEatRE at UBC

This Canadian classic will receive a second production by First Impressions Theatre

from November 5 to 22, 2008. Visit www.firstimpressionstheatre.com