January 29 - February 24, 2008
A Necessary Angel Theatre Company Production
By John Mighton
Starring in alphabetical order
Richard Clarkin
Laura de Carteret
Barbara Gordon
Carolyn Hetherington
Maggie Huculak
Robert Persichini
Eric Peterson
Directed by Daniel Brooks
Set and Costume design by Dany Lyne
Lighting Design by Andrea Lundy
Sound and Music by Richard Feren
WINNER
2005 Governor General’s Award for Drama
The Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre
The Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play
This production will present Centaur audiences with the award-winning play of one of Canada’s most successful playwrights, John Mighton, directed by one of Canada’s most recognized directors, Daniel Brooks, along with a stellar cast, including Centaur audience favourite, Carolyn Hetherington, and the star of CTV’s Corner Gas, Eric Peterson.
This elegantly constructed play is a gentle and humourous exploration of how vital and filled with yearning people are as they get older and how indifferently we relate to them. Mathematician and playwright, John Mighton, is fascinated with patterns and quasi-patterns our lives throw up. Clara is in a wheelchair and her memory is failing but sometimes what she says has its own beauty. Patrick, a new admission to the old peoples’ home, also has gaps in his memories but he’s cagey about his codebreaking past and is a bit of an escapeologist. Clara and Patrick are attracted to each other; the rest is history.
“a new play by John Mighton is an event, as much here
as it is in his native Canada …
His work has a precision where every nuance is
weighted in balance …
As well as a fine play, the Canadian company delivers a masterclass in naturalistic acting.”
- The Times (London)
* * * * (out of 5)
"Mighton's play emerges as a tremendously distinguished piece of work, full of discretion, intelligence, and beautifully controlled emotion…Daniel Brooks' production captures the ebb and flow of the play with an apparent effortlessness that conceals real art."
The Scotsman
"An unforgettable experience that is a gain, in every sense of the word, for the Canadian dramatic canon”
The Globe and Mail
“Finely observed…an elegantly flowing production”
Ottawa Citizen
"This is Mighton's first play in nine years and it was worth the wait… It's not hard to predict that this lovely elegy to the joys and heartaches of old age will be snapped up by theatres everywhere"
The Toronto Star
"Mighton’s writing is luminous…a beauty in every department”
The National Post
“If you like theatre, don’t miss it. And that goes double if you hate it, because Half Life is that all too infrequent stage show capable of winning new converts for the fragile art of live drama”
Montreal Gazette
“Simply one of the finest new works to be premiered
in
Toronto for a long, long time”
Eye Weekly (Toronto)
