Exploring the fine, fragile line between democracy and dictatorship
Photo by Colin Czerneda
“What does it take to shift from democracy to dictatorship?” That’s the question McMaster playwright-in-residence Marilo Nuñez addresses in her new play Demos Kratos, which begins its run on November 2 as the School of the Arts Fall Major Production.
Inspired by Sophocles’ Antigone and devised in collaboration with theatre students, Demos Kratos, which will be staged in the L.R. Wilson black box theatre, incorporates multimedia, puppetry, movement, light and sound to explore themes of intolerance, bigotry, the rise of Fascism and the power of dissent.
“We were fortunate this year that the Socrates Project provided funding for a playwright-in-residence to come work with us,” says Peter Cockett, an associate professor in the Theatre and Film Studies program and the director of Demos Kratos. “We decided we would align this production with one of the themes of the Socrates Project, which is democracy and dissent.”
Nuñez, who won a Hamilton Arts Award this year, worked with students in the spring, developing ideas and a direction for the script. Students have worked on all the design aspects of the work, which has included collaborating with local puppet designer Melanie Skene. The actors were drawn from the wider McMaster community.
While the Black Box Theatre offers exciting technical opportunities, the students haven’t forgotten older theatre techniques.
“This is the first year where we’re really trying to use all the technological possibilities that are accessible to us in the black box theatre – the multimedia and the sound is the latest technology, while the puppetry is a very ancient technology,” says Cockett. “One of the exciting things about this production is going to be finding out how these two things come together.”
Performances of Demos Kratos will be at the L.R. Wilson black box theatre on:
- Friday, November 2 at 8 p.m.
- Saturday, November 3 at 8 p.m.
- Wednesday, November 7 at 8 p.m.
- Thursday, November 8 at 8 p.m.
- Friday, November 9 at 8 p.m.
- Saturday, November 10 at 2 p.m.
