ArtsList

Dundas Little Theatre is pleased to present the third play of its 2011-2012 season, Iron by Rona Munro.

Iron is a taut psychological drama set in a women�s prison in Scotland. A daughter, Josie, is visiting her mother, Fay, for the first time in fifteen years. Josie is Fay�s first visitor in those fifteen years. Fay is serving a life sentence for the murder of her husband. Josie cannot remember her childhood before the murder.

As mother and daughter struggle to overcome the barriers of time, memory and punishment that separate them, questions begin to emerge about the long-ago crime: did Fay do it; why did she do it; and, most particularly, why has she remained silent about it for fifteen years? Uncovering the memories that they share may be more dangerous than either Fay or Josie imagine.

Written by award-winning Scottish playwright, Rona Munro, Iron has been praised as �an exceptionally gripping and deeply moving play�. As this will be the first Canadian production of the play – DLT is honoured and pleased to be hosting the Canadian premiere of this beautifully wrought script. Iron will be directed by veteran Dundas director Peter Lloyd, whose recent productions for DLT include The Constant Wife and Dinner with Friends.

Rona Munro has written plays for theatre, radio, and television; was the author of the screenplay of Ken Loach’s Ladybird, Ladybird and co-author of Aim�e & Jaguar by German director Max F�rberb�ck. Munro is also known for being the author of the last Doctor Who television serial of the original run to air, Survival (1989). She later novelized this serial for Target Books. Other theatre works include plays for the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, (‘Strawberries in January’ translation) Manchester Royal Exchange, (‘Mary Barton’), Plymouth Drum Theatre and Paines Plough, (‘Long Time Dead’) and the Royal Shakespeare Company, (‘The Indian Boy’).

Munro has also contributed seven dramas to Radio 4′s Stanley Baxter Playhouse: First Impressions, Wheeling Them In, The King’s Kilt, Pasta Alfreddo at Cafe Alessandro, The Man in the Garden, The Porter’s Story and The German Pilot. In 2006 the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith presented Munro’s adaptation of Richard Adams’ classic book, Watership Down. Her early television work includes episodes of the drama series Casualty (BBC) and, more recently, a BBC film Rehab, directed by Antonia Bird. Rona Munro currently lives and works in London. Her new play, “The Last Witch”, was performed at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival, directed by Dominic Hill, and in 2011 by Dumbarton People’s Theatre.

Iron will be produced by: Kyle Ferreira & Gabriel Pinto. The cast includes: Sabrina Feser as Josey. DLT audiences will remember Sabrina from her work in Barefoot in the Park and Strange Gods, Katharine Soluk will play Fay; Katharine is new to DLT but, as a drama teacher at Parkside High School, is well versed in the theatre, Monica Cairney who was last seen at DLT in Still Life will play Sheila, and Richard Vaillancourt rounds out the cast as George. Richard is well known to local audiences, and his work at DLT includes directing A Flea in her Ear.

Fifty years ago in the home of the late Don Garstin a group of local theatre enthusiasts created Dundas Little Theatre. Twenty years later, needing a place to call their own, a team of dedicated supporters and the (now former) Town of Dundas established a permanent site. The Garstin Centre For The Arts (a former swimming pool) was designed by Hamilton Place Architect Trevor Garwood-Jones; the pool was filled in and the auditorium built over it. In 1980 a �creative space� rather than a proscenium stage, with raised seats on moveable risers, was created. Highly adaptable, this unique space is transformed as the vision of each director is realized.

Performances of Iron are at the Garstin Centre for the Arts, 37 Market Street in Dundas. The performance schedule is:

Friday April 27 @ 8:00p.m., Saturday April 28 @ 8:00p.m.
Thursday, May 3 @ 8:00p.m., Friday May 4 @ 8:00p.m., Saturday May 5 @ 8:00p.m.
Thursday May 10 @ 8:00p.m., Friday May 11 @ 8:00p.m., Saturday May 12 @ 8:00p.m.

Tickets for the show are $18.00 (with $13.00 Students/Seniors (65+) discounts for Thursday performances only). For ticket information or to make a reservation, please call 905-627-5266 or visit our website at www.dundaslittletheatre.com

The Dundas Little Theatre website at www.dundaslittletheatre.com, contains a wealth of information about the company�s past work, as well as plans and announcements for the 2011-2012 season.