Squidamisu Theatre has brought their venue to the Vancouver International Fringe Fest – Room 102 at The Waldorf, for Suburban Motel, a cycle of six plays all set in “a slightly rundown motel” and told with dark hilarity, intensified in an intimate setting. Squidamisu, in collaboration with The Waldorf Hotel, invites you in to the world of Canada’s urban underclass of the damaged and desperate – who are still putting on a good and riotous fight.
Squidamisu has brought together 29 artists for 66 performances at East Van’s The Waldorf. Bob Frazer (Hedda Gabler), Elizabeth McLaughlin (Burnt by the Sun), and Chelsea Haberlin (Wojo) form the directorial team.
George F. Walker is one of Canada’s most accomplished and honoured writers. He admires Chekhov and Beckett and shares their sense of absurdity. Like them (with a fond eye for his lost and marginalized characters), he writes with intertwining humour and despair. The Suburban Motel cycle began with Problem Child. Then, inspired by the setting of the motel room, Walker wrote Adult Entertainment, Criminal Genius, Featuring Loretta, The End of Civilization and Risk Everything.
“We chose these plays because we love them; their claustrophobia, their at-wits-end brilliance and surprise…And we love locating them in The Waldorf room. Great location, very evocative, these plays are going to be very moving at such close quarters”, says Jessie-nominated producer Matthew Kowalchuk.
Suburban Motel
Dates: September 6 to 16; visit website for showtimes
Venue: The Waldorf Hotel, Room 102, 1489 East Hastings Street, Vancouver
Tickets: Available online; seating very limited