Theatre New Brunswick produce world premiere by New Brunswick playwright Ryan Griffith.
This week, Theatre New Brunswick will open the world premiere production of The Boat, a play based on the short story by Alistair MacLeod, adapted by New Brunswick playwright Ryan Griffith.
The Boat tells the story of a young man from a Cape Breton fishing family who faces the all too common decision to stay and build a life at home or leave the East Coast in search of new opportunities. ‘A Maritime story about leaving home’, this play follows a Maritime family as they navigate their children growing up.
“We are so excited to be telling this celebrated and uniquely Maritime story at our Open Space Theatre,” said TNB Artistic Director Thomas Morgan Jones. “When I first asked Ryan why he wanted to adapt The Boat he answered, ‘Because it’s the best short story ever written’. With this passion behind the adaptation, our production is equally brimming with love, inspiration, and a driving need to speak. Add to that the exceptional talents of actors and designers from all over Canada, and this will be a production that is not to be missed!”
The Boat will receive a two week production run at Theatre New Brunswick’s Open Space Theatre (March 9-18) before entering a three week run at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre and a full week of touring to New Brunswick communities.
This play also marks the second in the company’s commitment to the development and production of new work by New Brunswick playwright Ryan Griffith following last season’s technology based, site specific work, Returning Fire, presented as part of Fredericton’s 2016 FROSTival celebrations.
“This is our second year producing new work by New Brunswick playwright Ryan Griffith. Ryan’s voice is brilliantly, accessibly, human,” said Jones. “His ability to write so honestly from each character’s perspective is astonishing, and the depth that he has brought to his own take on the MacLeod short story is profound. We feel so fortunate to have Ryan in our community, to have the privilege of giving his voice a stage and to be able to share his voice with audiences in New Brunswick and beyond.”
For this production, Theatre New Brunswick welcome an impressive group of professional actors and designers from across the country to bring Griffith’s work to the stage, including Jon de Leon, a three year veteran of the Stratford Festival; Stephanie MacDonald, the Merritt Award winning actor who appeared last season in Mulgrave Road’s production of Watching Glory Die; and New Brunswick born actor Graham Percy who last joined TNB for the 2015 staged reading of David Adams Richards’ Beaverbrook. Ron Kennel, who plays the son and the narrator in the story, also boasts an impressive career on stage and screen that includes a role alongside Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington in the 2014 action/drama, Pompeii.
The Boat opens March 9, 2017 at Fredericton’s Open Space Theatre, 55 Whiting Road.
The Boat | March 9-18, 2017 | The Open Space Theatre | 7:30 p.m. – Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. | Tickets available at the Fredericton Playhouse box office or online at tnb.nb.ca | $30 adult – $15 student
