Sounder: Gabriola Players launches new season with dark drama

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Wednesday, September 23 2015

Gabriola Players is proud to be launching its 2015/16 season with Canadian playwright Nicole Moeller’s dark psychological drama An Almost Perfect Thing. The three-character play was inspired by the story of Natascha Kampusch – a young Austrian girl who was kidnapped at the age of 10 and held captive for eight years.

As reimagined by Moeller, when troubled, reclusive Matthew (played by Roger Carter) kidnaps and imprisons 12-year-old Chloe, he tells her he’s acted “to teach her father a lesson.”

He won’t, he promises her, keep her for long.

Years pass before Chloe (Donna Deacon) manages to escape from her captor.

When she does, she turns not to the police, but to Greg, a once highly respected journalist with whom she wants to share her story.

Unfortunately for Greg (Drew Staniland), Chloe refuses to provide names or locations, insisting that she, not her kidnapper, should be the focus of the story she has to tell.

Initially the public is thrilled to hear from Chloe, but empathy turns to anger. All Greg’s readers and editors want to know is: Who kidnapped her? And why is she protecting him?

To salvage his career, Greg must manipulate the truth out of Chloe – regardless of the consequences.

Director Jean Wyenberg, who selected An Almost Perfect Thing to launch the Gabriola Players season, says, “I don’t think I’ve ever been as moved – or chilled – by my first reading of a play.” She is confident audiences will feel the same.

“This is a haunting and powerful thriller, challenging for both the performers and the audience,” says Wyenberg. “On one hand it is the deeply personal story of a girl – and the woman she becomes – who will do whatever it takes to survive, but it is also a damning indictment of our sensationalist media.”

There will be four performances of An Almost Perfect Thing at the Rollo Centre: October 2 and 3 at 7:00 p.m. and October 3 and 4 at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets are $15 and are available at North Road Sports or online at gabriolaplayers.ca.

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