November 7 to 15, 2014 | University of Regina & Rose Bruford College
PHILISTINES
by MAXIM GORKY in a version by ANDREW UPTON
cast JANE NEUMIER as Tanya TYLER W. TOPPINGS as Pyotr GEORGE GRASSICK as Vassilly ABBEY THIESSEN as Akulina ROBYN SANDERSON as Elena MARK CLAXTON as Perchikin NATHAN COPPENS as Teterev CARSON WALLISER as Shyshkin ERIN JOHANSEN as Tsvetaeva JENNA SHIELS as Polya LEGBO MENEGBO as Nil with GWEN SEED as Stepanida ANDY IBACACHE as the Doctor AYESHA MOHSIN as a Passerby NICK SKJONSBY as a Passerby / Understudy Pyotr ADAM MILNE as a Passerby / Understudy Teterev EMMA FIORANTE as a Passerby / Understudy Elena
creative DAVID ZOOB Director LANDON WALLISER Assistant Director JACEY FAHLMAN Stage Manager CANDICE CHURA Assistant Stage Manager JOHN LOEPPKY Lighting & Sound Operator KATHLEEN IRWIN Set & Costume Designer WILLIAM HALES Lighting & Sound Designer NICOLE PONCSAK Design Assistant YEUK SEE KO, NOAH JANZEN, EVE MAALERUD, and JENNIFER LYN SQUIRES Production Assistants CHANCZ PERRY & SHAEYA BALIKO PHONSAVATDY Dance Consultant DOMINIC GREGORIO Choral Consultant
staff KATHLEEN IRWIN Head of Theatre WILLIAM HALES Technical Coordinator CATHY MEARNS Head of Wardrobe MASON ROTH Head of Scenic Carpentry & Properties CHRISTOS DARLASIS Wardrobe Assistant LANDON WALLISER Publicity MARIE DMYTROW Production Secretary LANDON WALLISER Front of House
"Life. People shout, fight, eat and go to bed. When they wake up? They start shouting again"
Excesses of vodka, parents warring with grown-up children, unrequited love. It seems like business as usual in the house of Vassily Bessemov. But this is different. The conflicts in this respectable home are just a shadow of what is about to erupt outside. A pleasant town house is no fortress against the gathering forces of reprisal that rumble in society.
Written in 1901 and banned by the regime in 1902, Maxim Gorky's play is about one generation struggling to keep hold of what they have, while their children struggle to work out what they want. It is a prescient vision of a nation on the brink of monumental change. Andrew Upton's acclaimed translation is vibrant and contemporary, receiving rave reviews when it premiered at London's National Theatre in 2007.