“...a marvelous machine of creativity”
Vancouver Sun
Premiere
April 13-17, 2004
Vancouver East Cultural Centre – Vancouver, BC
“A portrait of the Prospector writing a self portrait of the Prospector”. This is Krapp’s Last Tape set against the fallout of the Klondike Gold Rush and the decline of vaudeville theatre.
In 1898 a writer/explorer known only as Walker goes north to reclaim an abandoned mine in a remote ghost town. Months later he arrives, barely alive, and holes up on the stage of the decrepit Palace Grand theatre. His final means of survival, the only way left to impose order on the world as the killing cold of winter sets in, is to write. And then consume his writing as fuel. Read. Write. Re-read. Re-write. Speak it aloud. Hear it spoken. Perform it.
In a distant cabin, a distress call is received: “Save Me”. A mysterious Tracker is sent to find Walker and bring him back alive. Abandoning all the comforts of home, he sets out, hauling his outmoded equipment on his back, transmitting dispatches from the trail. He tracks Walker to the Palace Grand.
Dark, poetic and stylistically daring, the play is an utterly physical evocation of an ill-fated expedition that makes northern exploration a metaphor for the writer in his quest to truthfully portray himself.
“...a marvelous machine of creativity”
Vancouver Sun
"It's no exaggeration to say that Young moves with the grace and precision of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. Every character is distinct, all of the gestures are so clear they're like a series of cutout silhouettes.”
The Georgia Straight
PHOTOS
AWARDS
JESSIE RICHARDSON THEATRE AWARDS, 2004:
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Small Theatre (Jonathon Young)
Outstanding Set Design, Small Theatre (John Webber and Jonathon Young)
Outstanding Lighting Design, Small Theatre (John Webber)