Hudson Village Theatre announces 2016 season

Hudson Village Theatre features the return of audience favourite, Norm Foster, with the Quebec Premiere of his most popular new play, The Ladies Foursome.  A follow-up to his massive hit, The Foursome, the comedy king has penned another gem, starring four of Montreal’s most brilliantly funny women.  Catherine’s funeral has ended, and the next day her dear friends, Margot, Tate, and Connie gather for a round of golf in her honour.  But they’re joined on the green by another woman, an old friend of Catherine’s they’ve never met.  The mysteries and unravelling begin, and over the course of eighteen holes, secrets, confessions, surprises and shocking details emerge as the women discuss love, life, sex, children –  and everything in between!

Directed by MECCA Award-winner, Alison Darcy (Artistic Director of Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre), the cast features:  Eleanor Noble, Shannon Hamilton, Susan Glover, and Mary Harvey.  Set Design is by Jo-Anne Vezina, Costume and Lighting Design by Cathia Pagotta with Joseph Browne rounding out the team on Sound Design.  June 22nd through July 10th.

Tate:  Anyway, it looks to me like the Rachel has had some work done.

Connie:  Really?  What kind?

Tate:  Well, it was hard to tell.  I don’t know if it’s a face job that’s pulled her boobs up, or a boob job that’s pulled her face down.  Either way, she’s been ironed and fluffed.

HVT’s August big ticket show is one that Artistic Director, Matthew Tiffin, has been so excited about, that it’s been difficult to keep it under wraps as word has begun spreading through the acting community.  Twentieth century masterpiece, Private Lives, by Noel Coward will storm HVT stages.  Love, lust, passion, romance, hatred, hilarity, betrayal and genius wit set the stage for a champagne-fuelled battle of the sexes! 

Aristocratic divorcees Elyot and Amanda unwittingly book neighbouring hotel rooms while honeymooning with their new spouses, Victor and Sybil.  Realizing that they’ve made mistakes in their new marriages, Elyot and Amanda ditch their mismatched spouses and run off together.   They are discovered several days later by their jilted spouses at Amanda’s Paris flat, in the midst of an epic feud.  All four individuals find themselves in the strangest and most compromising of situations imaginable.  When the play premiered in Britain in 1930, its Second Act love scene was nearly banned for being too risqué.  Beloved of audiences, hilarious, outrageous, and surprisingly fresh and relevant, Hudson Village Theatre will produce an unforgettable version with a surprising twist that is sure to have audiences talking for days.

Directed by HVT’s MECCA Award-winning Artistic Director, Matthew Tiffin, the brilliant cast features:  Mary Harvey as Elyot Chase (a role played by Noel Coward, Alan Rickman, and recently Paul Gross); Brett Watson as Amanda Prynne (originally played by Gertrude Lawrence, followed by Tallulah Bankhead and more recently by Kim Cattrall); Stefanie Buxton as Victor Prynne (originally played by Laurence Olivier); newcomer David Noel as Sybil Chase (originally played by Adrianne Allen); and Kyle Gregor-Pearse as the Maid, Louise.  Set and Lighting Design is by META-Nominated Designer, Peter Vatsis; Costume Design by Elisabeth de Madeiros; and Sound Design by META-Nominated Designer, Rob Denton.  August 10th through August 28th.

Amanda:   Have you known her long?
Elyot:   About four months, we met in a house party in Norfolk.
Amanda:  Very flat, Norfolk.

A few fun Noel Coward quotes to enjoy: 

“I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.” 

“I love criticism just so long as it’s unqualified praise.”

“It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” 

“I don’t know what London’s coming to — the higher the buildings the lower the morals.”

And capping off HVT’s 2016 Games We Play Season, is the high-style Bad New Days’ production of The Double.  Based on the Dostoevsky novella of the same name, The Double is a stylish, funny, imaginative and exciting work of physical theatre.  The production is part Charlie Chaplin, part mystery, part psychological thriller – and pure entertainment. 

An anxious government clerk meets a strange lookalike who is daring, romantic, and brash – a success at everything the clerk fumbles.  Is it really his double, or could he just be paranoid?  An ingenious Molotov comedy cocktail filled with laughter, obsession, and original live music, this Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning satire features the dazzling prose of Dostoevsky, over-the-top physical comedy, and outrageously entertaining performances by a brilliant cast of three.

An outlandish riff on the eternal search for personal identity and social status, The Double will make you cringe with compassion… as you double over with laughter.

“I’m thrilled to introduce Quebec audiences to Bad New Days Productions and their physically witty version of this classic story.  Following in the footsteps of Théatre du Complicité and Theatre Smith-Gilmour, these young, Lecoq-trained artists are rising stars in the independent scene in Toronto.”

The Dora-nominated The Double originally premiered in Toronto and was picked up by Tarragon Theatre.  It also played at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in May, 2015, and is scheduled for a run in Victoria, B.C. in 2016.

Directed by Adam Paolozza;  Created and Performed by Adam Paolozza, Arif Mirabdolbaghi and Viktor Lukawski; Music by Arif Mirabdolbaghi; Set Design by Ken Mackenzie; Lighting Design by André Du Toit; Sound Design by Charles Ketchabaw; Associate Director, Lisa Marie DiLiberto; and Creative Collaborator, Norah Sadava.

Running September 7 through September 11, 2016.

“Hysterical[…] It’s pure theatre, with none of the preciousness that term sometimes signifies and all of the exhilaration.” – Robert Cushman, The National Post

 “Clever and engaging […] If Dostoyevsky foreshadowed Freud, this post-Freudian gang can mock him with élan. 3/4 *s” – – Kate Taylor, The Globe and Mail

 “If you want to experience the joy of pure theatre then head down to see the Double. […]With the success of Spent last year and now with this stylish and madcap production of The Double, TheatreRUN has established itself as company whose productions you miss at peril to your artistic wellbeing.” – Christopher Hoile, The Stage-Door

  “thrilling…ingenious…fast-moving, funny and psychologically complex. NNNN’s” -Glenn Sumi , Now Magazine

 “That was me laughing out loud…I love to laugh at the theatre.” -Former Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson

The Games We Play…is the theme this summer”, says HVT’s Artistic Director, Matthew Tiffin.  These brilliant, hilarious productions are all about the different kinds of games we play in our relationships with each other, within our own minds and in our own lives.  Set on a golf course, The Ladies Foursome is a literal game-playing show – not to mention the crazy games the four women play with each other!   Private Lives features outrageous, battle-of-the-sexes games, sexual and emotional games played by two demented aristocrats, Elyot and Amanda.  And the protagonist in The Double who thinks someone’s playing a game with his life – thinks he’s being played with.  This very human – and very funny – theme runs through all of our fabulous summer productions.”

Hudson Village Theatre www.villagetheatre.ca

Tickets & SHOWTIMES

2pm Matinées (Wed. through Sun, except Friday)$27 and $29 + tax & service charges8pm Evenings (Thurs. through Sat.)$29 and $33 + tax & service charges

Box Office:  450-458-5361  CONTACT:  hvtbox@videotron.ca

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