by Simone Keiran

Five separate stories are woven into cohesive and compelling drama in David van Belle and Eric Rose’s Ghost River Theatre production, The Highest Step in the World.

Captain Joseph Kittinger

The main story centers around a very literal interpretation of the question, “What do you do when you can’t go back down the same way you came up?” — by examining what it may have taken from American air force pilot and war veteran, Captain Joseph Kittinger, to jump off the Excelsior III flight balloon on August 16, 1960, from 102,800 feet (31.3 kms) in the upper stratosphere, and free-fall for four and a half minutes, reaching supersonic speeds of 614 mph (988 km/h) — a feat which has not yet been equaled.

The play provides a frank discussion of the ‘hostile skies’ which fliers face in the upper stratosphere; the effects on the physical body; the risks which test pilots and astronauts have taken; and the tolls they have paid in injuries, experience and wisdom. It describes how technology evolved and where it fell short. The opening scene is a gripping narrative which re-creates the last moments of the Space Shuttle Challenger, and correlates it Kittinger’s experimental parachute feat.

The Highest Step in the World also segues into:

• the story of Vesna Vulovic, the Serbian former flight attendant who plummeted 10,160 metres (33,330 ft) without a parachute when a bomb went off inside her plane;

• a fanciful re-staging of Ovid’s Icarus and Daedalus;

• a personal anecdote about the end of a marriage.

Through these accounts, the play the play’s creators, Eric Rose and David van Belle, bring its audience inward to contemplate what it took from Kittinger to make that jump in terms of:

• the figurative understanding of ‘spine’ or strength and the willingness to risk one’s life;
• ‘nerves of steel’ or courage;
• and the ‘heart’ or trust in one’s purpose, team, and possibly fate itself.

Through that process of introspection, it is only a matter of one step for each audience member to face their own need for spine, nerves and heart, or to look frankly at physical risks, supportive people, and the consequences of actions. Such a very small step ….

The Highest Step in the World brings all of these characters, Kittinger, Vulovic, both Icarus and Daedalus to life through David van Belle’s tour de force solo acting performance.

One nit about van Belle’s acting is the over-exaggeration and, in fact, the overuse of the Russian accent. Since, with the way that the script is laid out, there has to be a very clear demarcation between the characters — especially in the scenes set between Daedalus and Icarus, whom van Belle portrays as a beloved, but dissolute and foul-mouthed modern teenager — it is easy to understand why he interprets the vocal inflections in this way. But Greeks and Serbians don’t sound Russian, not even in the oddest Cold War Era daydreams! In the case of Daedalus, it’s a bit over-the-top — strange and a stretch, but not eye-watering since it’s a myth. In the case of Voluvic, however: Serbia — as part of the former Yugoslavian Republic — parted ways with the Soviet Union back during the times of Stalin, so a Russian accent is a blunder, no matter how anti-nationalistic and globally inclusive Voluvic’s personal views were.

Setting that aside, however, in addition to playing multiple characters with vastly different personalities, van Belle serves as the narrator — charging up tension with that data stream of facts and unifying all the disparate elements and bringing them home with personal anecdotes and reflections. He manages this because he’s got one helluva technical team backing him up.

The Highest Step in the World utilizes, both, stunts and multimedia projections as special effects. The set design and wardrobe appear to be a simple, blank, white canvas upon which 16mm video clips of archival footage and light effects may be projected, a ersatz tabula rasa to provide a symbolic Greek chorus of imagery in order to reflect the zeitgeist of the era. Footage of seagulls soaring, moonscapes, the earth from its upper atmosphere, even Cold War Era tract housing roll in the background. Some of the most riveting images are the projections of xrays, air force uniforms and cosmonaut suits directly onto van Belle. Audio tracks include the famous countdown to lift-off, newscasts about Sputnik, even the rumbling of the Challenger’s massive engines. Program notes for The Highest Step in the World mention that Anton de Groot runs about 500 sound, lighting and video cues through the 70-minute show, that Ben Chaisson and Court Brinsmead set up and ran the projectors, and Ami Farrow sourced the footage. The stagecraft also includes a Wonder of the Ancient World setting for the scenes of Daedalus and Icarus in captivity, hidden — evocatively — behind a ‘veil.’

A flying rig, designed by Adrian Young and Larissa Yanchak, allows for van Belle to perform some strenuous acrobatic stunts. He simulates every permutation of flight and falling from floating within a gravity-free environment, leaping through a low-gravity environment like Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon, free-falling toward earth and floating with a parachute. It’s a vigorous and energetic performance.

Ghost River specializes in original work. They research and create the plays from scratch, workshop them with a creative and resourceful production team, and refine the spoken language with a good dramaturg, Vicki Stroich. The results pay off with hypnotic storytelling, interesting visuals and a longstanding sense of satisfaction when the show is finished.

The Highest Step in the World is showing at:

PUMPHOUSE THEATRE
2140 Pumphouse Avenue, SW; Calgary
(403) 263-0079

8:00 pm nightly, and 2:00 pm Saturday Matinees
until October 29th, 2011.

Go see it!

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Lhasa: Land of the Gods

Until Sunday, March 21st, 2010
9:00 PM Nightly
Calgary Circus School
at the Lantern Community Church in Inglewood
1401 – 10 Avenue, SE, Calgary

A performance fusion of circus aerials, music and theatre featuring Jamie Tognazzini, Léda Davies, and Marcy Lannan.

Tickets: $20 adults, $15 students/seniors/Actors equity
Available at the door, or online.

Harold Pinter’s BETRAYAL

Directed by Richard Rose

March 23rd to April 11, 2010
Times vary and there are weekend matinees.
Max Bell Theatre
at The Epcor Centre for Performing Arts

Emma has had a seven year affair with Jerry, her husband Robert’s best friend. Ingeniously unfolding in reverse, the nine scenes in the play begin at the end of the affair and move backwards to the moment the lovers first share an adulterous kiss. This love triangle reveals that everyone has something to hide and betrayal has more than one price. Poignant, and often bitterly comic, this play highlights the genius one of the world’s greatest modern playwrights.

Theatre Calgary offers solid, reputable and established works by acclaimed playwrights, and brings in leading directors and talent for performances.

TICKETS:
Theatre Calgary Box Office: (403) 294-7447
(Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM MST)
TicketMaster has a full price and date listing, and a map of the Max Bell Theatre, call (403) 299-8888

EVELYN STRANGE

By Stewart Lemoine

March 13 to April 4
Vertigo Mystery Theatre
at the base of the Calgary Tower
115 – 9 Avenue, SE

Special Price: $10 Director’s Preview
Tickets at the Door Only (starting 6:30 pm)
Sunday, March 14 at 7:30

My name is Evelyn Strange and sense has ruled my life in place of passion.

Forgetting your own name, life history, and recent whereabouts is no way to start a first date—but Evelyn Strange is unlucky that way. She may have forgotten who she is, but if the contents of your pockets told a tale of bloody murder, you wouldn’t want to remember either.

A charming, witty crime comedy from Edmonton’s celebrated Stewart Lemoine.

DO ANIMALS CRY

By Meg Stuart and Damaged Goods (Belgium)

Saturday March 13th, 2010
8:00 PM
Theatre Junction GRAND
608 – 1st Street, SW

Cry if you want to: it’s family time now! In Do Animals Cry Meg Stuart and her performers (Damaged Goods,from co-producers, Théâtre Garonne du Toulouse, Théâtre de la Ville du Paris, Wolksbühne am Rosa Luxemberg Platz of Berlin, PACT Zollverein of Essen, and Kaaitheatre of Brussels) challenge the greeting commando called family — a frantic reunion where loved ones reminisce for the last time before falling to pieces. Featuring six dancers addressing the family dynamic with tension and unspoken comfort, this show is a melting pot of scenes and situations with movement as the main ‘trigger.’

Tickets: Theatre Junction, (403) 205-2922, or at the box office 608 – 1st Street, SW.

(X-posted to Calgary Dance)

BILLY TWINKLE

REQUIEM FOR A GOLDEN BOY

March 18, 2010 to April 11, 2010.

Created and Performed by Ronnie Burkett
Music by John Alcorn, Lighting design by Kevin Humphrey

Billy Twinkle is a middle-aged cruise ship puppeteer who dazzles audiences with his Stars in Miniature marionette niteclub act. His saucy burlesque stripper Rusty titillates the tourists, octogenarian Bunny invokes sidesplitting laughter with the inflatable balloon in his pants, Bumblebear juggles and roller-skates and steals the hearts of every audience, and society dame Biddy Bantam Brewster brings a bit of highbrow hilarity to the high seas with her drunken aria. Billy is the best in the business and on top of the world as he floats along through life.

Until he is fired by the cruiseline. Standing at the edge of the ship contemplating a watery demise, Billy is abruptly called back to reality when his dead mentor Sid Diamond appears as a hand puppet. Sid literally will not leave his side, and forces Billy to re-enact his life as a puppet show in order to remember and rekindle the passion Billy once had for puppets, people and the dream of a life that sparkles.

For anyone stuck in the middle – mid-career, mid-love, mid-life – caught between our own past and future, this requiem for a golden boy shines a little light on the wonder of youth meeting the wisdom of age with a kick in the pants to finish what we started.

“Burkett’s lack of peers demonstrates that he has essentially invented, or at least reinvented, the genre of serious puppetry. Since he founded the Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes in 1986, his one-man shows have grappled with kid-unfriendly themes ranging from the Holocaust to AIDS to art history, and over time his puppets have shed their novelty status. To put it simply, his marionettes act. They emote, sometimes holding audiences in thrall while simply standing around onstage and talking to one another, as human actors would.”

Alex Hutchinson, “ The Puppet Master and the Apprentice: One of the world’s great puppeteers finds renewal — for himself and his art form — in mentorship,” The Walrus Magazine, April, 2010.

For ticket information please contact the ALBERTA THEATRE PROJECTS ticket office at (403) 294-7402 or click here to order online!

Ronnie Burkett’s plays are directed towards ages 14+
No latecomers will be admitted.

Alberta Theatre Projects performances take place at the Martha Graham Theatre in the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts, 205 8th Avenue S.E., Calgary Alberta, T2G 0K9

Weekend at the Museum
March 13 & 14, 9am-5pm
Free for members

Mark your calendar for the first Weekend at the Museum when the museum throws open its doors to children and their parents for a big hands-on, multimedia event. All three public exhibition floors will be open for musical and theatrical performances, workshops, storytelling, hands-on art based activities, yoga sessions and a chance to go behind-the-scenes to see the hidden treasures at Glenbow.

For schedule of events, click Weekend at the Museum.

Theatre-related workshops which look interesting include:

A step-by-step puppet workshop with Calgary’s Old Trout Puppet Theatre, where children can design a face and construct a body to create their very own marionettes. All supplies provided. Age 7 +
1:00 – 4:00 pm,
Location: Morris Schumiatcher Activity Room (3rd Floor)

Heather John, a member of the Cree community, utilizes the Blackfoot Gallery, Nitsitapiisinni: Our Way of Life, as the setting for her engaging and enlightening storytelling style. All Ages.
2:00 – 4:00 pm
Location: Blackfoot Gallery(3rd Floor)

Glenbow’s artist-in-residence, Kris Demeanor, leads a song-writing workshop for kids. Kris provides a number of instruments and guides children through the process of writing a song, as well as a performing his own compositions. Age 7 +.
11:00 am – noon & 2:00 – 3:00 pm
Location: ConocoPhilips Theatre
(Main Floor)

Other workshops include sculpting horses from copper wire, hands-on artifacts in the Mavericks exhibition, a behind the scenes tour, yoga for children, a drop-in art studio, sketch club, geodes, knights, and a treasure hunt.

Family prices: (2 adults, up to 4 youth) $28
Adult (18+) ……………………… $14
Senior (65+) ……………………. $10
Student (with valid ID) ………… $9
Youth (ages 7-17) ………………. $9
Glenbow members and children under 6 are free.
Annual Family Membership (2 adults, up to 4 youth) are $90.

Nicola Garvin
Membership & Annual Giving Coordinator
Phone: (403) 268-4165
E-mail: memberships@glenbow.org

Glenbow Museum
130 – 9 Avenue S.E., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 0P3
Email: info@glenbow.org; Phone: (403) 268-4100; Fax: (403) 265-9769.

Gilgamesh La-Z-Boy

Gilgamesh La-Z-Boy returns to One Yellow Rabbit for another run, March 18 -27, 2010. The play was so popular at its High Performance Rodeo premiere, that it sold out.

The ancient Mesopotamian Legend of Gilgamesh, with its hyperbolic language and epic structure, is beautifully recounted and choreographed while juxtaposed between three actors in contemporary costumes on a set composed of La-Z-Boy furniture.  In case you think this is a one trick pony of a production, the setting hones attention in on the actors’ abilities and voices, on the power of the story and the words which produced it, on the story’s relevance to our present existence.