The Horseradish Theatre stages the quirky Slavic-accented comedy Number 13, December 18 to 21
When a Prime Minister’s assistant’s romantic hotel rendez-vous is interrupted, a host of hilariously chaotic misunderstandings ensue
Number 13. Photo by Victoria Letto
The Horseradish Theatre presents Number 13 at The Cultch’s Historic Theatre from December 18 to 21
THE STANISLAVSKI SYSTEM, an acting method devised by Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavsky, is all about learning to “live” a role rather than “perform” it. The late artist’s ultimate goal was to train actors to deliver truly believable performances. And his teachings stuck—because a century later, theatre companies are still drawing on his system.
One such group is Vancouver’s The Horseradish Theatre, which is about to remount its quirky comedy Number 13 at The Cultch’s Historic Theatre. What makes Horseradish unique is that it’s a Slavic-accented company; the actors, who all have Slavic roots, will perform the whole production in English on December 18 and 19 and in Russian on December 20 and 21.
Number 13 riffs on Ray Cooney’s 1990 farce Out of Order. Here, it follows a Prime Minister’s assistant who plans a romantic hotel-room rendez-vous with the secretary of the opposing party’s leader. But what starts as an intimate evening quickly devolves into a series of altogether hilarious events when a stranger brings an urgent matter to light.
Directed by Horseradish founder Andrii Krupnyk—who also doubles as lighting and sound designer, and acts in the show—Number 13 features a fast-paced plot full of comical misunderstandings.
Krupnyk teaches the Stanislavsky system to actors and incorporates its principles into all the productions he works on. That skillset should help the ensemble cast of 10 ground all the wonderfully wacky elements at work here. And as Horseradish puts it: the show “might even give you those elusive abs from all the belly laughs". 
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