Canadian Stage: Helen Lawrence
CAP UCLA | Oct. 13 & 14, Royce Hall
The year is 1948. The world economy is in recession, the banking system in shambles, people are terrorized by a shadowy foreign threat, and there is a housing crisis in virtually every city of the Northern Hemisphere. This is the world of Helen Lawrence–a film noir landscape of tough guys and femme fatales who wear finely-tuned personas to protect themselves–while the Frank Capra-like “John Does” having experienced trauma abroad and privation at home, now resort to desperate measures to get by.
In a virtuosic feat of double vision from celebrated visual artist Stan Douglas and screenwriter Chris Haddock (Boardwalk Empire; DaVinci’s Inquest), 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 capture in this two-toned world of sketchy politics and simmering racial tensions, raising theater to new technological heights. The result is that the actors in the “movie” seem more real than the actors “on stage.”
The perfect marriage of theater and cinema, Helen Lawrence has to be seen to be believed. Candian Stage produces and presents contemporary performance with a multi-disciplinary focus that integrates theater, dance, film, music, multimedia, and more. Canadian Stage is Canada's center for innovation in performance sharing new, vibrant art forms from Canada and around the world.
Event Dates: Oct. 13 & 14, 8 p.m.*
*Join us for pre-show activities before the shows & a post-show discussion after the Oct. 14 performance. Details
Venue: Royce Hall
Price: $39–79, $15 UCLA Students, $25 UCLA Faculty & Staff
Royce Hall is located in North Campus off of Sunset Boulevard.
Parking is available in lot 2.