WORLD PREMIERE
To the Light to hit stage
Both the American Modern Library and Time Magazine have included Virginia Woolf’s 1927 novel To the Lighthouse on their lists of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Three years ago, Quebec actress and playwright Evelyne de la Cheneliere created a dreamy exploration of two of Woolf’s characters in her own play Lumieres, lumieres, lumieres.
Calgary playwright John Murrell then translated it into an English version he calls To the Light.
Alberta Theatre Projects will present the world premiere Oct. 17 through Nov. 4 in the Arts Commons Martha Cohen Theatre.
Under Vanessa Porteous’s direction, Elinor Holt will play the older woman (Mrs. Ramsay) opposite Julie Orton’s Lily Briscoe spanning a period from 1910 to 1920.
Holt explains that Mrs. Ramsay represents “the older generation, particularly those women whose values are more Edwardian. She believes the key to feminine happiness lies in remaining in the domestic mode with children, husband and their extended family.”
Orton admits Lily is the polar opposite.
“Lily is an artist. Down to her very DNA, she rejects Mrs. Ramsay’s view of womanhood, yet she still finds Mrs. Ramsay’s life fascinating and appealing.
“She envies Mrs. Ramsay’s sta- bility and especially the way she provides care and warmth to those around her and even to those who visit the lighthouse.”
Holt says the play encourages the audience to look at both sides of being the older generation and the younger generation.
“Unfortunately, the young are not encouraged to put themselves in the older generation’s thoughts and feelings and, too often, the older generation forgets what it is like to be young and that’s what the play helps us all do.”
Orton says she read Woolf’s novel during her “19-year-old existential crisis.
“I had seen Nicole Kidman’s 2002 movie of Woolf’s The Hours and just had to read all the Woolf I could get my hands on.”
She admits “To the Lighthouse didn’t ruffle my feathers as did some of the others, but it certainly stuck with me.”
Holt had not read any Woolf and says it was John Murrell that drew her to this project. “I had starred in John’s English adaptation of Carole Frechette’s Helen’s Necklace which Vanessa had also directed and I loved the language in that play and wanted to be part of To the Light.”
Both actors can draw on their own lives for the roles they are playing in To the Light.
Holt, a wife and mother of three, understands what it means to run a household, but she is not Mrs. Ramsay.
“I am about as far from being Edwardian as you can get and I am also an artist, something Mrs. Ramsay couldn’t really understand.
“I straddle the domestic and artistic worlds.”
Orton says being an artist automatically put Lily on the fringe of society and that’s something she does understand.
“There are times today, in Cal- gary, when to be a person who dedicates her whole adult life to being an artist puts you on the fringe, so I can relate to Lily in that way.”
Orton says audiences will revel in the beautiful exploration of the fractured relationship between Mrs. Ramsay and Lily; and both women need to be seen and recognized for what they have to offer.
Holt is adamant that this 83-minute play does not exclude men.
“Anyone who has had a mother should see this play. It is about women struggling with identity something men deal with as intensely.”
ATP’s season opener The Last Wife was a runaway hit and both Orton and Holt are encouraged by that.
“It shows audiences are searching for new and exciting Canadian plays.”