By Jacinto Benavente
Original translation by Catherine Boyle and Laurie Steven
Directed by Laurie Steven
The con is on when two penniless con artists arrive in a town of pretenders and concoct a devious scheme to get rich. But the town is in too deep and too tied up in their vested bonds of interest to blow the whistle.
“‘Ingenuity and impudence are all we have,’ says Crispin. Throw in imagination, a little Vaudeville pas de deux, love and chance, and an Oxford comma. Add a mask. A sprinkle of Shakespeare. The glamour of opera. And you have a must-see play.”
—Colin Noden, Apt613
“At times it’s funny, at times it’s disquietingly vicious. Always, it’s clear that we are witnessing a heightened representation of human behaviour and one that both signals and masks the characters’ true intention.”
—Patrick Langston, Artsfile
“…the secret of this production is clearly the magic of the staging … All this roaring activity takes place against a magic background when, after sunset, the urban forms of Barry Padolsky’s scenography emerge glowing in the dark, appearing to grow out of the greenery of Strathcona Park, like magic creatures called up by the night.”
—Alvina Ruprecht, Capital Critics Circle
Nominations
Prix Rideau Award for Outstanding Production
Prix Rideau Award for Outstanding Design – Vanessa Imeson (costumes)
Prix Rideau Award for Outstanding Male Performance – Mitchel Rose
Prix Rideau Award of Emerging Artists – Lucy Sanci
Dramaturge Laurie Steven
Assistant Director Madeleine Hall
Set Designer Barry Padolsky
Costume Designer & Wardrobe Vanessa Imeson
Mask & Makeup Designer Clelia Scala
Lighting Designer Graham Price
Sound Designer Venessa Lachance
Choreographer Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière
Fight Movements Choreographer Stavros Sakiadis
Production Manager Graham Price
Stage Manager Susan D. Currie
Props Arielle Voght
Cast Ross Mullan, Anurag Choudhury, Stavros Sakiadis, Mitchel Rose, Bruce Spinney, Maryse Fernandes, Soo Garay, Scott Maudsley, Neta J. Rose, Erin Eldershaw, William Beddoe, Scott McCulloch, Lucy Sanci, Tanasiah Lavallee-Smart, Maureen O’Brien
