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Written by: Pierre de
Carlet Marivaux
Translated and directed by: John Van Burek
Starring: Arsinée Khanjian, Xuan Fraser, Dawn
Greenhalgh, Thomas Hauff, Peter Haworth, Julie LeGal, Andrew
Piko and William Webster
Produced by: The Pleiades Theatre
Set and Costume Designed by: Andjelija Djuric
Lighing by: Paul Mathiesen
Music by: Justin Haynes
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Previews: May 3
thru May 5
Runs: May 7 to 26, 2002
Show Times / Prices:
Previews Fri and Sat 8 pm $12, Sun 2:30 pwyc
Tues-Thurs at 8 pm: reg $27, group/student/senior $22
Fri and Sat at 8 pm: all seats $35
Wed mat. 1 pm: reg $25, group/student/senior $19.50
Sun mat. 2:30 pwyc
Children under 12 - all tickets 1/2 price
Groups are being sold through GROUP SALES INTERNATIONAL:
416.597.0965
Advance reservations
through the St. Lawrence Centre Box Office,
416-366-7723
Tickets available for sale and pickup at Artword Theatre one
hour before a show ONLY.
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Starring Arsinée Khanjian (pron. Can-gin),
Counterfeit Secrets by Marivaux (pron. Mary-voh) is a
sparkling, classical French comedy about true love and false
pretenses. It's about the ambiguous relationship between
love and money. play about the ambiguous relationship
between love and money where, fuelled by an inequality of
means, the true motivations of seemingly honest people
become questionable.
Marivaux
is the Mozart of playwrights. With passion, variety, verve
and elegance, he explores the ways in which love can play
surprising tricks on us, especially when we think we are
smarter than our hearts. By the same token, he reminds us of
how love, and our fear of getting hurt by it, can sometimes
make us behave with alarming cruelty.
Written
in 1737, Counterfeit Secrets takes an amusing look at the
treacherous relationship between love and money. Considered
by man to be Marivaux' greatest play, this one tells the
story of Dorante, an attractive, very capable but penniless
young lawyer who is in love with Araminte, an extremely
wealthy and beautiful young widow. Dubois, who used to work
for Dorante but now for Araminte, manoeuvres to position his
former master Araminte's household as her intendant; the
plan is to have her fall in love and marry him. Iago-like,
Dubois plunges everyone into conflict to attain this end.
The vast gulf in economic status that lies between the two
protagonists keeps begging the question of Dorante's real
motives and we soon realize that with every character, a
good deal of money is at stake. Much of the comedy stems
from the painful and valiant efforts to keep material and
emotional interests separate. Needless to say, there is
nothing dated about such a story and this is very much a
play for our time.
One of
Canada's true international stars, Arsinée Khanjian,
is playing Araminte, along with Stratford veterans Xuan
Fraser (Dubois), Dawn Greenhalgh, Thomas Hauff, Peter
Haworth, Julie LeGal, Andrew Pifko (Dorante) and one of the
leading members of Support Theatre, William
Webster.
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