“Joanna Murray-Smith’s exquisite play that explores love, loss and the frenzied passing of time.”
Excerpted from Press Release:
Naked Goddess Productions is proud to present the Canadian Premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith’s captivating play NINETY at the Toronto FringeFestival, July 1-12, opening July 2nd.
Directed by Mercy Cherian (Split Decision, The Rice Girls, Spike Heels) and starring Nicole Fairbairn (Performer in Toronto Fringe showsRadioactive Drag Queens from the Year 3000(NOW Magazine Critic’s Pick) and Drowning in Wasabi) and five time Jessie Richardson nominee William MacDonald (Zadie’s Shoes, The Caretaker, Macbeth).
NINETY is a portrait of a failed marriage. Isabel, an art restorer, has asked for ninety minutes of time from her former husband, now a hugely successful film star, before he marries another woman. It is an exploration of love, loss, and the frenzied passing of time.
Playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s plays are widely performed around the world, including productions on Broadway. She is an award-winning Australian playwright, and one of only three playwrights in Australia who makes a living from her writing. Many notable actors including Meryl Streep, Sam Waterston, Kyra Sedgewick, Laura Linney, Rachel Griffiths and many others have performed her plays.
‘Joanna Murray-Smith’s latest play gives ample evidence of why her work is so successful overseas…Ninety represents a synthesis of Murray-Smith’s most salient talents as a playwright: a gift for comedy and a flair for intimate drama that gets under the skin of the middle class.’ — The Age newspaper
The play is an intimate character study of a divorced couple who come together one last time to examine their complicated journey with each other, to get to the core of their failings individually and within their relationship. It is an autopsy of a marriage intermingled with flashbacks of joyous levity and poignant moments. As they go back and forth in time, they peel back layer after layer of the thick protective shell they have built around themselves, finally unveiling the truth.
The play examines the delicate dance of relationships, the healing process after loss and all the words people choose to keep sealed up inside, often until it is too late. It looks at the subtle and miraculous moments that pass by and how it is sometimes easy to overlook how precious and extraordinary they truly are.
Venue: Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace (16 Ryerson Avenue)
Showtimes:
Tickets for all Fringe productions are $10, $12 in advance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062, business hours only), in-person from the festival box office located in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s, (481 Bloor West), or — if any remain — from the venue box office, starting one hour before showtime. (Cash-only.)
The festival offers a range of money-saving passes for committed Fringers; see website for details.
Be advised that Fringe shows always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted.
Photo by Dahlia Katz.
