Theater | Live Filmmaking
Helen Lawrence
Canadian Stage
Conceived and directed by Stan Douglas
Written by Chris Haddock
The setting: Vancouver, 1948. The scene: a slew of hardboiled bookies, crooked cops, and an enigmatic blond named Helen, all trying to tame the derelict city and their pasts by whatever boozy, pill-popping means. But typical noir this is not.
In a virtuosic feat of double vision from celebrated visual artist Stan Douglas (David Zwirner Gallery) and screenwriter Chris Haddock (CBC’s Da Vinci’s Inquest and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire), actors perform in front of blue screens as camera-controlled software inserts them into a meticulous landscape of seedy hotels and skid-row streets—projected as a completed film on stage. Banter crackles and a killer eludes in this two-toned world of sketchy politics and simmering racial tensions, raising the femme fatale and fedora to new technological heights.
Story by Stan Douglas and Chris Haddock
Set design by Kevin McAllister
Costume design by Nancy Bryant
Lighting design by Robert Sondergaard
Sound design by John Gzowski
Director of Photography Brian Johnson
Video programming by Peter Courtemanche
A co-production with Canadian Stage, Arts Club Theatre Company, Vancouver, The Banff Centre, Stan Douglas Inc, Festival TransAmériques and Canada's National Arts Centre, with contributions from Arts Partners in Creative Development, Presentation House Gallery, BC Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts, Tour Sponsors, BMO; David Zwirner
- Discounts from 15 to 30%.
- Free exchanges.
- Reduced handling fees.
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