Ann-Marie MacDonald’s award-winning comedy, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) is coming to the Belfry Theatre, and it promises to be a crowd-pleaser.
The multitalented actor, playwright, author and broadcaster is best known for her international best-selling novels Fall On Your Knees and The Way The Crow Flies and as host of CBC’s Doc Zone.
And Goodnight is no exception to MacDonald’s storytelling talent. The play follows lovelorn academic Constance Ledbelly, who in her obsession with her thesis is magically transported into the middle of Shakespeare’s Othello and Romeo and Juliet.
In her quest to earn the respect of her double-crossing mentor, Prof. Claude Night, Ledbelly jumps through time and space and soon discovers the characters of Romeo, Juliet, Othello, Iago and Desdemona aren’t the people she imagined them to be.
The play runs Sept. 17 to Oct. 20 and stars Daniela Vlaskalic (The Drowning Girls), Michael Dufays, Nicola Elbro, Pippa Mackie and Jameson Matthew Parker, who wowed the Belfry audience last year in his role as Mark Rothko’s assistant in Red.
The Belfry is teaming up with several community partners to promote the play, including an offstage Shakespeare performance (Sept. 21) and casual lunches with Goodnight performers (Sept. 24, 27, Oct. 1 and 4) at the Greater Victoria Public Library, central branch. The Belfry will also stay open for post-play cocktails and mingling on designated nights (Sept. 24 to 28, Oct. 8 to 12), and offer a Q&A with the actors (Sept. 26).
See the full event listings at belfry.bc.ca.
Tickets for Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) are $25 to $40 (plus GST) and available by calling 250-385-6815 or online at tickets.belfry.bc.ca.
By Dan Palmer
dpalmer@vicnews.com