Theatre

JANET SHUM Enlarge Image

From left: Nan Fewchuk, Karl Thordarson and Adam Charbonneau of Magpie.

FemFest, Sarasvàti Productions’ annual celebration of women theatre artists, promotes social equality through socially conscious theatre. 
   
"Sarasvàti’s mandate is transformative theatre," says artistic director Hope McIntyre. "We always make sure our shows are somehow engaging the audience, whether it’s with dialogue or thought or just letting them look at the world from a new perspective."
   
The festival’s showcase production, Magpie, certainly keeps with that theme. Written by Edmonton-based playwright Katherine Koller, the play is about a woman who takes in rapists and killers in an attempt to reintegrate them into society.
   
"She’s got a personal agenda with these guys," Koller says. "Yes, she’s there to help them, but she really thinks the best way to help is to send them back to jail. She does things to mess up their progress, but this guy Reggie really challenges her. He’s really good looking, he comes on to her and he treats her in a way none of the others ever had, so she’s really challenged."
   
The audience is also challenged. Directed by McIntyre and featuring Jane Burpee, Adam Charbonneau, Nan Fewchuk and Karl Thordarson, Magpie blurs the lines between good and bad.
   
"Audiences sometimes identify with Reggie," Koller says. "He almost becomes the victim when, in essence, he’s the victimizer. It turns the tables a little bit and it’ll be interesting to see who people root for."
   
A black comedy, the story is told in a surrealistic style, but was inspired by a real event. Koller wrote Magpie, which debuted as a CBC Radio drama in 1995, after a friend was murdered on Edmonton’s LRT system. 
   
"I had horrible feelings about who would do this to her and why," Koller says. "I didn’t try to make a docudrama, I just tried to follow in my own head. ‘Who would do this? Why and what do we do with them afterward?’ Her father, who was a high-profile clergyman and politician, had this huge outpouring of forgiveness, which was remarkable. With that kind of pressure from the father, I really had to work out my own feelings of, ‘What do we do with a guy like this?’"
   
FemFest 2011: Staging Inspiration runs Sept. 17 to 24 at the Canwest Centre for Theatre and Film. In addition to fully realized pieces, the festival also features play readings and workshops, skill-development seminars and cabarets. It’s that combination of events that keeps FemFest going after nine years.
   
"Year after year, the message we keep hearing is ‘You have to keep doing this,’" McIntyre says. "The women artists have learned to depend on it as a showcase opportunity, as a way to get work and as a way to develop their plays — and our audiences just love the diversity of it all."
 

FEMFEST
Sept. 17 – 24, Canwest Centre for Theatre and Film at the U of W