Tragedy, Slander, & Wine explores conspiracy theories and media literacy, November 13 to 19
The multimedia play fuses theatre and film with true crime, mockumentary, and more
Tragedy, Slander, & Wine. Photo by Sarah Cherin
Promethean Theatre presents Tragedy, Slander, & Wine November 13 to 19 at the NEST on Granville Island; artist talkbacks take place November 18 and 19
IN THE ERA of conspiracy theories, Promethean Theatre is bringing Tragedy, Slander, & Wine to the stage, a multimedia whodunit-style comedy that aims to spark conversation about media literacy.
Playwright David Volpov’s new thriller is dubbed a “murder mystery without a murderer”. Residents of a small B.C. town are obsessed with a tragedy: during opening night of a play at the local theatre, an actor dies on-stage, for real. They become caught up with the story and the media circus that ensues, folks with a thing for fake news pointing fingers at everyone in town as a suspect. No one knows what really happened, but there are plenty of notions as true-crime tourists descend upon the community.
Volpov started writing the play during the pandemic.
“I felt troubled by how quickly conspiracy theories spread,” Volpov says in a release. “I saw this cycle repeat after each major world event. Our abilities to engage in meaningful discourse eroded while our reliance on bias-confirming news increased. With so much misinformation online nowadays, how is anyone supposed to parse through what's fact and what's fiction? That’s the question I try to explore in Tragedy, Slander, & Wine.”
During the long days of COVID-19 lockdowns, Volpov found a unique parallel in the bizarre world of reality show Tiger King.
“Tiger King really opened my eyes to how I consume media,” Volpov says. “I had no actual evidence to suggest Carole Baskin was complicit in her husband’s death, but that's what everyone was talking about on social media. The filmmakers convinced people it was true. I realized that true crime connects with what I wanted to explore in Tragedy, Slander, & Wine. So, the play is a mystery where media intervention and technology muddies the facts instead of solving the case."
Directed by Larisse Campbell with assistant direction by Sarah Kelen, the play combines theatre and film as well as that above-mentioned true-crime style. It includes mockmentary-like coverage of the mysterious death: Promethean Theatre hired Vancouver theatre and film artists to film interviews with actors playing various townsfolk, which audiences will see unfold on-screen alongside the onstage action.
Promethean Theatre (Volpov, Vivek Lal, Isaac Li, Trisha Li, Diyalla Malijian, Mikenzie Page, and Marcus Vaillant) has a mandate of empowering emerging artists. Mai Stone plays Shannon, the victim’s sister, who becomes the town pariah and who’s aided by her good friend, Alec (Drew Ogle). They find themselves up against the media, including pit-bull reporter Penelope (Sophia Paskalidis) and gatekeeping publicist Colin (David Underhill). Finding the truth about what happened becomes increasingly difficult amid a secret plot and even has people wondering whether such a fatal event could happen again.
It's all to get viewers contemplating the power of the media and of alternative facts, how they consume news, and the importance of critical, independent thinking.
The show features mature content, including references to substance abuse, murder, and suicide, and is recommended for audience members aged 16 and up.
More information is at Promethean Theatre.
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