Captain Hook, Tiny Tim and Jesus Christ are warming up backstage to star in Neptune’s 2009-10 season.
George Pothitos, Neptune Theatre’s new artistic director, said the common theme for next year’s schedule is hope. The main stage will kick off with Marivaux’s French classic The Game of Love and Chance, followed by Alistair MacLeod’s No Great Mischief, Sexy Laundry, Rabbit Hole and the musical fantasy Peter Pan.
“I didn’t set out to choose a theme. I just picked good plays,” Pothitos said at yesterday’s unveiling. “I guess subliminally, because life is difficult for everyone with the economy, I was looking for hope as I read the plays.”
He said the most hopeful play is the holiday play, A Christmas Carol: The Musical.
“It presents us with good people and unhappy people and what I love about it is it tells us if you’ve chosen a path in life, it’s never too late to change it.”
Pothitos read a huge number of scripts, including 20 new ones, before selecting his first Neptune season.
Neptune also unveiled its Studio season, highlighted by Rick Miller’s one-man show, Bigger Than Jesus. Halifax actress Jackie Torrens will star with Kathryn MacLellan in Daniel MacIvor’s A Beautiful View, which tells of the pair’s long relationship.
“It’s an adventure for me. I’ll find something and become an explorer following it through,” Pothitos said of the dramatic lineup. “A patron can actually come to everything and experience the best of theatre.”
A packed theatre was on hand for the launch. The biggest reactions came for Peter Pan and No Great Mischief. No Great Mischief is a stage adaptation of MacLeod’s award-winning novel following the MacDonald clan’s journey from Scotland to Cape Breton.
