Stage Notes: Citadel launches fall season with A Streetcar Named Desire

Music is integral to Daryl Clorans’ upcoming production of A Streetcar Named Desire, with a live jazz band introducing a distinct vibe sure to engage the audience in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

“(Playwright) Tennessee Williams is very prescriptive about how music interacts (in the play) and when we should feel it arrive,” says Cloran, who is directing A Streetcar Named Desire for the first time. “We’ve really leaned into using music as part of the storytelling.”

Set in New Orleans circa 1947 and previewing Sept. 21, the play is by turns poetic and savage. It follows the story of Blanche DuBois as she moves in with her younger sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski, after creditors take her home. Unable to cope, Blanche succumbs to magical thinking as the play moves between fantasy and reality.

“It’s a very naturalistic play,” says Cloran. “Even our set — the props they touch, the kitchen table — are very naturalistic but while it’s a naturalistic apartment, it has no walls. So Blanche is constantly surrounded by the rest of the ensemble and drawn back into memory and fantasy.”

Arguably Williams’ most formidable work and perhaps his most popular, the play seamlessly weaves a number of themes, such as women’s autonomy in the mid-century American South and fear of death.

But Cloran has chosen to emphasize the characters’ search for love in this production, including desire, romantic love, and the love between sisters.

“I found a great Williams quote about the violence of the world. ‘We live in a perpetually burning building and what we must save from it all the time is love,’” he says.

The Citadel Theatre co-production with Theatre Calgary stars Vancouver-based Lindsey Angell as Blanche and University of Alberta theatre graduate Stafford Perry as Stanley. A Streetcar Named Desire plays in the Shoctor Theatre until Oct. 13. Tickets range from $40-125 are available by calling 780-425-1820 or at citadeltheatre.com.

Theatre Network kicks off its 50th season on Oct. 8 with the wildly creative team of Mump and Smoot in their latest show, Exit. Written and performed by the Edmonton-based clown team of Michael Kennard and John Turner — who made their inaugural appearance in Edmonton in 1989 at the Fringe — Exit marks the first time Mump and Smoot have been on stage at the Roxy Theatre since 2014.

“There is always something that (Michael and John) are going through that they are sharing,” says Theatre Network’s artistic director Bradley Moss. “In Exit, Mump and Smoot have died and they’re saying goodbye to their bodies, burying themselves, and then realizing (they’re) still here and now what?”

Directed by Karen Hines, the one-act runs until Oct. 27 in the Nancy Power Theatre. Expect a performance steeped in elements of horror grounded by buffoonery. Those unfamiliar with Mump and Smoot should know they come from the planet Ummo and speak their own language, Ummonian.

In further Roxy news, local theatre fans will be pleased to learn that Ronnie Burkett will return to Edmonton for a Christmas show called Little Dickens — the puppeteer’s riff on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The show, which runs Dec. 3 to 22 and is geared toward those over 16, features beloved, ongoing characters from Burkett’s Daisy Theatre canon.

“For fans, they’ll see the return of Esme and Schnitzel and some great characters of the past,” says Moss, noting that in classic Burkett style, the artist will likely bring in contemporary references that are sure to amuse and incite.

Theatre Network winds up its season in spring 2025 with a new, commissioned work by the two-time Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama recipient, Colleen Murphy. The Calgary-based playwright is the force behind the GG award-winners Pig Girl, the 2013 play that explores the murders of Indigenous women by pig farmer Robert Picton, and The December Man, set in the shadow of the 1989 Montreal Massacre. Her work was last seen at the Roxy in 2020’s The Society For The Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius, a hilarious spoof of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus.

Murphy’s new production, Jupiter (April 1 to 20 in the Nancy Power Theatre) takes place over a four-day period in the living room of the Hutchinson family. A real-life dog (a Field Retriever named Monk and the only actor cast so far) plays a key role. Created with the financial support of the Morris Foundation, the show explores themes of mental health and intergenerational trauma.

“It’s super dark and super funny,” says Moss. “Welcome to the world of Colleen Murphy.”

For further information, contact Theatre Network at 780-453-2440 or visit the website at theatrenetwork.ca.

Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre has announced its 2024/25 season with an impressive array of upcoming productions and a new ticket structure.

The first show, running Oct. 30 to Nov. 7, is called Stars on Her Shoulders. It’s a world premiere by Stephen Massicotte, the award-winning Canadian creator of the crowd-pleasing Mary’s Wedding. (Mary’s Wedding was first produced in Calgary more than 20 years ago and has since enjoyed some 120 productions in Canada, as well as in the United States, Europe and New Zealand.)

Set against a queer romance, Stars on Her Shoulders is a wartime history play about five women who are nurses. The play had a reading in front of an audience at WWPT in March.

“Even at that early stage, the response to the work was quite remarkable. People pounded on the risers. It has a real emotional curve to it,” says WWPT artistic producer Heather Inglis, who directs.

Later in the year, watch for the Yuletide tale Krampus: A New Musical (Dec. 11 to 22). Featuring a live three-piece band, the show’s book and music is written by Seth Gilfillian and Stephen Allred, with orchestration by Michael Clark. Then from Feb. 19 to 23, 2025, the popular Fringe production Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life, by Keith Alessi, returns to Edmonton as a fundraiser for WWPT.

Directed by Erika Conway, Tomatoes is Alessi’s personal story. After being diagnosed with cancer, he quit his corporate job to take up the banjo. Since going into remission, Alessi has travelled the world, hoping to inspire audiences with his story.

In March 2025, WWPT presents the annual Springboards New Play Festival, which celebrates plays and playwrights in development. The season winds up May 14 to June 2 with Horseplay, by Kole Durnford. Directed by Inglis, the show is about a jockey and his horse who must work together when they discover the horse will be sold unless the duo wins an upcoming race.

“The story is about a friendship between a horse and his rider and it’s funny and hilarious and meta-theatrical and really has this beautiful heart twist at the end of it. It’s a lovely piece,” says Inglis. Season subscribers and individual ticket buyers alike may be pleased and startled by new prices for WWPT’s upcoming season. It’s a pilot program — the first of its kind in Alberta — that sees people invited to “pay what you will” for all tickets and subscriptions. The suggested price for individual tickets is $40 each or $150 for the whole season. But if people pay a lot less, that’s okay.

“I rather suspect that people and audiences that appreciate and understand theatre won’t necessarily pay a dollar because they can. Although we don’t mind that…Our doors are open and anyone is invited to come and share in what I think is a collection of remarkable cultural opportunities with whatever they can contribute.”

For details, call WWPT’s office at the Gateway Theatre at 780-477-5955 or visit workshopwest.org.

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