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The blurry line between fantasy and reality comes to life as Korda Artistic Productions brings The Trench to the Windsor stage for its Canadian debut.
Director Jeremy Burke finds hope despite great sadness in the thought-provoking, one-act drama based on the true story of a miner entombed in a tunnel during the First World War.
“It’s a little heavier for sure,” Burke said.
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In Burke’s hands, the drama, written by UK playwright Oliver Lansey, turns into a larger-than-life, humanistic hero’s journey.
Written in verse, The Trench is inspired by the circumstances of a miner who was buried underground in the trench system following an explosion.
“The play takes that story … and you can kind of assume what was a horrifying hardship, and turns it into this poetic, surreal journey,” Burke said.
Rylan Thomas stars as Bert, the buried miner, with Georgie Savoie, Joey Wright, Brandon Chappus and Julia Pastorius portraying various roles.
The physically demanding production features innovative use of puppetry and mask work, enhancing the immersive storytelling experience.
Burke said the “underground” comes to life in a lot of different ways, utilizing chorus members and the trench — an unworldly guide character — that takes the form of puppets.
The puppets are built out of real objects that might be found underground or “pieces of life that maybe got lost,” he said.
“So it really looks like the objects around him came to life and started breathing.”
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Windsor musician Dylan Iannicello wrote the original score for the play. It will be performed live by Iannicello and percussionist Cavelle Doucet-Lefebvre.
“Immotive” lighting highlights a set which makes use of a lot of fabric.
“It’s kind of like this Frankenstein’ed-together, stitched, reference to a trench,” Burke said. “It doesn’t literally look like a trench but it implies that world while still tying into the visual motifs in the chorus’s costumes.
“So it looks as if they were born of the set itself,” he said.
“I think there’s a lot of fun surprises in what is part of the set and what is part of the show that maybe that line gets blurred a lot.”
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The Trench opens Friday (June 14) and runs through June 29, at The Kordazone Theatre, 2520 Seminole St. Performances run Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with a Sunday matinee June 16 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $25, $20 for students or seniors, available at the door or online at showpass.com/kordatrench.
“It may seem like a risk to see a show like this that’s maybe more serious or seems really different or maybe artsy, but I think there really is something in it for so many people,” Burke said.
“And it’s just such a beautiful story and beautiful storytelling that it keeps it exciting.
“It’s sad but it’s also very hopeful. I think hope is really important in these kinds of stories and I hope people will value that and really be affected by that.”
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