The Gabriola Players 2015/16 season got off to a thrilling start last weekend with Canadian playwright Nicole Moeller’s award-winning drama An Almost Perfect Thing. Pitch perfect performances by Roger Carter, Donna Deacon and Drew Staniland kept audience members on the edges of their seats.
From fraught drama, the gears have already shifted to farcical with rehearsals well underway for that family favourite, the annual pantomime. This year’s offering is Robin Hood and His Merry Men by Robin Bailes (author of last year’s delightful Will Shakespeare The Panto!) and Jonathan Hales. As always, there will be a villain to boo, a hero to cheer, puns galore and fun for all. Feel free to wear your green tights (the more the merrier) and mark your calendar for November 27-29 at the Community Hall.
Following the success of last spring’s one-act play festival, which featured three new works by local playwrights, Gabriola Players is pleased to announce that at least one of the plays in next spring’s festival will once again be written by a Gabriolan author. There will be four performances the weekend of March 11-14 at the Rollo Centre.
Next year marks the centenary of women’s suffrage in Canada. Manitoba was the first to grant women the vote in a provincial elections, followed later in 1916 by other western provinces. To mark this important event, next May Gabriola Players will be presenting What Glorious Times They Had, Canadian playwright Diane Grant’s lively and loving tribute to Nelly McClung and the determined members of the Political Equality League.
The season doesn’t end there.
Gabriola Players’ first foray into the wonderful world of Shakespeare – an al fresco staged reading of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – proved so popular with both audiences and actors that “Bard on the Bay” will be back next July with Twelfth Night.
Gabriola Players positively encourages islanders to get involved in the fun, not just as audience members, but also in roles both on and off the stage. As the Bard himself said, “The play’s the thing.”
Watch out for audition announcements in the Sounder for a chance to come out and play.