"Norway.Today": Hoping for a Smash
Place: Toronto
Event: Toronto's lauded new Theatre Smash have staged their second contemporary drama at the Tarragon Theatre with the support of the Goethe-Institut.
“There’s something soul-sucking about the modern world.”
Sarah Baumann is talking about the central theme of Norway. Today, the play she’s directing that’s based on a real-life suicide pact forged in cyberspace. (…)
Baumann and Corcoran formed Theatre Smash in 2005 with the mandate of bringing new plays from other parts of the world to Toronto. It’s this interest in non-local perspectives that led the duo to Swiss playwright Igor Bauersima and his macabre meditations on Internet technology – namely, the chat room.
Based on real events, Norway. Today tells the story of Julie (Ieva Lucs), a young woman who trolls chat rooms looking for someone to commit suicide with her. She finds a willing partner in August (McCarthy) and flies him to Norway, where the two trek to a 600-metre-high cliff, intent on ending it all.
“The interesting thing about this play is that on first read it seems like the characters are only committed to offing themselves, but as you read deeper it becomes a complex love story where they’re both fighting for understanding and acceptance from someone.”
The show is a two-hander, but Baumann is quick to point out that technology is the third character – in more ways than one. (…)
“Video and technology are woven throughout the whole show,” Baumann explains, noting that the play will make use of a mix of pre-recorded and live video elements all controlled by a switcher backstage.
“Also, the first part of the play is set in an Internet chat room, with audience members playing the role of lurkers.”
During pre-production, Baumann actually struck up an Internet correspondence with Bauersima, who offered her insights into his nuanced script.
She also spearheaded a crash course in existential philosophy during rehearsals to help her actors understand the playwright’s ideas about death and personal freedom – a project that might have seemed partly wasted with Bendavid’s untimely departure from the show. (…)
Event: Toronto's lauded new Theatre Smash have staged their second contemporary drama at the Tarragon Theatre with the support of the Goethe-Institut.
“There’s something soul-sucking about the modern world.”
Sarah Baumann is talking about the central theme of Norway. Today, the play she’s directing that’s based on a real-life suicide pact forged in cyberspace. (…)
Baumann and Corcoran formed Theatre Smash in 2005 with the mandate of bringing new plays from other parts of the world to Toronto. It’s this interest in non-local perspectives that led the duo to Swiss playwright Igor Bauersima and his macabre meditations on Internet technology – namely, the chat room.
Based on real events, Norway. Today tells the story of Julie (Ieva Lucs), a young woman who trolls chat rooms looking for someone to commit suicide with her. She finds a willing partner in August (McCarthy) and flies him to Norway, where the two trek to a 600-metre-high cliff, intent on ending it all.
“The interesting thing about this play is that on first read it seems like the characters are only committed to offing themselves, but as you read deeper it becomes a complex love story where they’re both fighting for understanding and acceptance from someone.”
The show is a two-hander, but Baumann is quick to point out that technology is the third character – in more ways than one. (…)
“Video and technology are woven throughout the whole show,” Baumann explains, noting that the play will make use of a mix of pre-recorded and live video elements all controlled by a switcher backstage.
“Also, the first part of the play is set in an Internet chat room, with audience members playing the role of lurkers.”
During pre-production, Baumann actually struck up an Internet correspondence with Bauersima, who offered her insights into his nuanced script.
She also spearheaded a crash course in existential philosophy during rehearsals to help her actors understand the playwright’s ideas about death and personal freedom – a project that might have seemed partly wasted with Bendavid’s untimely departure from the show. (…)
by Jordan Bimm, Now Magazine, 3 September 2008
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