The highly popular TNT play reading series — which featured performances of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe, Scorched, Twelve Angry Men, and Lawrence and Holloman — is closing out the season on Saturday, April 13 with a pair of short plays by two Canadian writers and an interesting line-up of local actors.
The first play is Babel Rap, by Vancouver’s John Lazarus which eavesdrops on two workers — one industrious, the other a contemplative smoker — who are building the Tower of Babel. They argue about why they're doing it and what will happen when it's finished. A clever comedy, it was one of Geoff Burn’s favourites when he was a drama teacher at LV Rogers secondary school and now he gets to perform it with his friend Richard Rowberry.
The second piece is Essay, by Hannah Moscovitch, a wicked and insightful look at gender politics at a Canadian University. The writing is extremely sharp, the ending is delightfully unexpected and guaranteed to provoke a discussion in the bar after the show. Rowberry is joined by Phillip Sarsons and Elizabeth Barrett for this reading.
A veteran actor, Sarsons’ performance in Lawrence and Holloman was a big hit. He has appeared in major theatres across Canada and was the first recipient (2001) of Actor Equity’s Emerging Theatre Artist award. Newcomer Elizabeth Barrett hopes to pursue an equally successful professional career and has already turned heads with performances in several Capitol Theatre summer shows and the LVR film, The Change Agent.
The one-night-only performance will again take place at The Old Church Hall (602 Kootenay Street at Victoria). Tickets are $12 and available at the door.