Blavatsky’s Tower walks the tragi-comedie tight rope
Blavatsky’s Tower is worth seeing just to watch how gracefully the BFA actors walk the tragi-comedie tight-rope. This is a high-calibre performance delivered from a group that is able to make you care about some very troubled and complex characters. Professor David Barnet works alongside the cast of students, playing the patriarch Blavatsky, delivering a great opportunity to see the well-respected 3M teaching award winner in dramatic action on the Timms Centre stage. The work by the design team Robyn Ayles (set & lights), David Lovett (costumes) and Rhys Martin (sound/compositions) is striking with seamless integration of projections to invoke the brutalist architecture of the tower and the metaphysical visions of the ailing paternal head of the household.
But don’t take my word for it. Watch what Director Sandy Nicholls and actor Joe Perry have to say about why you should “laugh ’til your heart aches.” Come see the show before it closes Saturday night!
Presenter: U of A Studio Theatre
Event Title: Moira Buffini Festival
Featuring: Blavatsky’s Tower by Moira Buffini, on now until December 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Matinee December 4 at 12:30 p.m.
Venue: Timms Centre for the Arts, University of Alberta
Single show tickets: $11 student, $22 adult, $20 senior available online now at TIX on the Square and at the Timms Centre box office one hour before each performance.
Directed by Arts faculty member Sandra Nicholls and designed by Robyn Ayles (sets and lighting) with costume designer David Lovett, Blavatsky’s Tower features UAlberta BFA Acting students from the graduating class of 2015: Hunter Cardinal, Natalie Davidson, Bobbi Goddard and Joseph Perry along with Faculty member David Barnet.