Between classes: John Cooper

John Cooper

finds laughter beneficial.

Currently:

• Director, The Suicide, the latest production by the Douglas College Theatre and Stagecraft & Event Technology departments. Adjunct professor, Department of Theatre and Film (UBC).

Coming soon:

Director, Death of a Salesman, The Vancouver Playhouse

Notable roles:

• Director, A Macbeth and When You Comin’ Back Red Ryder (Douglas College)
• Artistic Director, Touchstone Theatre
• Associate Director, The Vancouver Playhouse
• Recurring Guest Director, The Arts Club Theatre

Jammin'

The whole is always much greater than the sum of the parts. As an interpretive artist (a director), the production becomes the place where I get to jam with the primary artist (the playwright) as well as with the other interpretive artists (actors, designers).

Expect to see

Comic pathos. Ludicrous actions. Surprising events. A foreign yet somehow familiar world. Pain and suffering. Music and madness. In short, a good time.

Familiar themes

The Suicide is a comedy about things which are not really funny. Though writing about struggles in the then-newly formed Soviet Republic almost a century ago, the themes of powerlessness, valuelessness, fear, frustration, and feeling unseen and unheard are as timely to us here today as they would have been then, had this play not been banned from performance in the Soviet Union.

Personal inspiration

The Suicide makes me laugh and empathize and eventually reflect upon the comedy implicit in my own struggles. I find such things to be of personal benefit.

Lessons in comedy

Farce demands a very active kind of listening, as much of the comedy is based on how words and events land on a character. There is an old comedy adage: “It takes two people to get a laugh; one to say the funny line and the other to react to it.”

A visual and technical feast

A play of this scope and magnitude, with its multiple settings, period costumes, a banquet with a gypsy band, Orthodox Russian liturgical services and funeral marches, tuba lessons and plate-smashing madness, also provides rich opportunities for research and creation for those involved in the design and technical aspects of the production.

Show times

See The Suicide at the Studio Theatre (room 4100) at the New Westminster Campus of Douglas College, 700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster, March 19-27. Shows on March 19, 20, 23, 24, 24, 26 and 27 at 7:30pm, March 22 at noon and March 27 at 2pm. Tickets $7.50-$15. Purchase tickets in advance through the Massey Ticket Centre online or by calling 604-521-5050. Tickets can be purchased (cash-only) at the door, subject to availability. For more information about the production, contact 604-527-5723.

Links:

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Stagecraft and Event Technology
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Published March 11, 2010