Sips N’ Scripts 2020:
The Madwoman of Chaillot
SIPS ‘N SCRIPTS is part of City Stage New West’s “Bringing Back the Living Room” initiative, inspired by the ideas of Canadian Indigenous author Richard Wagamese, brought to you in partnership with Anvil Centre. In this free play reading/performance series, audiences can sit back with their ‘sip’ and enjoy a provocative world classic presented by rehearsed, leading professional actors. Or the crowd can get more actively engaged by reading small supporting roles, providing sound effects, and/or engaging in talk-backs and related activities. A cash bar features a special-themed beverages at each reading. Artists, audience, friends, and strangers connect, create, and celebrate!
Friday, May 22, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT by Jean Giradouxs, adapted by Maurice Valency
Free, but limited seating. Tickets available here at Brown Paper Tickets.
Oil is discovered under the streets of Paris. When fat cats plot to cash in at the publics expense, a kooky Countess and her rag-tag coterie vow to stop their destructive exploits. But can they save the world from corporate greed and corruption? Can they bring back its Beauty?
Originally a response to World War II fascism in France, Jean Giradoux’s whimsical comic-fable of 1943 speaks presciently to a modern world gone out of its mind. “Nothing is ever so wrong in this world that a sensible woman can’t set right in the course of an afternoon.”
The New York Drama Critics’ Circle hailed the 1948 Broadway production as “one of the most interesting and rewarding plays to have been written within the last twenty years”, “pure gold”, with “an enveloping and irresistible humor”. Giradoux’s play and Valency’s adaptation later inspired the 1969 musical DEAR WORLD, starring Angela Lansbury, who won a Tony for her portrayal of the “Countess Aurelia,” the Madwoman of Chaillot.
Directed by Renee Bucciarelli, featuring special guest artists (tba) with City Stage New West ensemble actors.
Friday, May 22nd, 7:00 – 9:00 pm at Anvil Centre, 777 Columbia Street, New Westminster, BC.
Next up: War of the Worlds, October 16. visit www.citystagenewwest.org for more details.