Mounting Strindberg's Easter has been a challenging reward. It is a curious play, rarely produced. Though Strindberg continued to explore numerous styles throughout his career, in his "post Inferno plays" characters are thrown into conflict with themselves and with the supernatural world. Easter is one of those plays.

Strindberg wrote quickly. Through his written text, we see his unique improvisation and nimble mind at work. He wrote: "I found it easiest to write plays. People and events took shape, wove themselves together. And I derived such pleasure from this work that I found life a sheer delight while the writing continued, and do so still. Only then do I feel alive!" (Strindberg on Drama and Theatre, Tornqvist, 20)

Utilizing Haydn's Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze (Seven Last Words) and Passion week as the backdrop, Strindberg's context for Easter is realistic, intense, complex and contradictory. He asks us to consider, at any given time - where is hope? Things may not be what they appear. Has the family been swindled or are they the swindler? Is Elenora's mind fractured by this world or beautifully touched from another? Is Lindquist, the creditor, a monster of destruction or ... something else? Are we left to twist in the wind of predetermined fate or, can grace intervene? Exploring Gary Kirkham's new adaptation has unearthed a curious, resonant, unpredictable piece as precarious and beautiful as the petals of an Easter lily.

Enjoy the show!

Biography

Mark has directed and scenic designed over 25 shows. Favorites at the Chemainus Theatre Festival include, Anne, Mr. Pim Passes By and Pet The Fish. Mark has also collaborated with companies including Theatre X, Pacific Theatre and TheatreOne in development of over a dozen new plays. Acting has taken him across many borders, including performing in a new adaptation of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman (Theatre X), appearing as the Dauphin in Henry V at the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and playing his one man show, Finding Centre, in a grassy field in Hungary.