Bryden MacDonald's WITH BATED BREATH Opened Last Week To A Standing Ovation

By: May. 01, 2009
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With Bated Breath, a new play by Bryden MacDonald opened last week to an enthusiastic standing ovation. See for yourself why Montrealers are talking about this highly theatrical, poetic and provocative play!

In Bryden MacDonald’s words, his plays are "about journeys and rebirth – their endings bring new beginnings. They often shed light on those society has forgotten; those, who for one reason or another have found themselves trapped - and what happens when these people are set free. In With Bated Breath, memory plays a prominent role: how time effects it, how it fractures and is often reinvented depending on the situation - and why is it that certain things stay with us with a blistering clarity, while other things simply slip away only to reveal themselves again later without warning.

One of my many guilty pleasures is country music, when it was really country music: the heightened heartache of Tammy Wynette and George Jones; Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, and my all time fav Dolly Parton. With Bated Breath could easily be subtitled "a hurtin’ song". The broken characters in this play, with their double lives and tarnished armor, who sometimes only have their sense of humor to keep them afloat, are my heroes."

With Bated Breath is the sensual and provocative tale of Willy (Michael Sutherland-Young), a troubled but charismatic gay kid who flees Cape Breton Island for Montreal with the hopes of forgetting a newly broken heart. He finds momentary comfort with the denizens of the city’s red light district, but soon goes missing without a trace. Willy, in one-way or another, has had a profound effect on the lives of the other characters. His presence lingers. As rumors fly, secrets explode, and reality blurs with fantasy, Willy is both remembered and reinvented by his friend and protector, Esta (Sarah C. Carlsen); Float (Éloi Archambaudoin), the jaded young stripper who takes him under his wing in Montreal; Camilla (Felicia Shulman), the small-town gossip with a few secrets of her own; Bernie (Neil Napier), a man running from his past, and his wife, Ricotta (Danette Mackay), a flamboyant and outspoken fading party girl whose on-the-rocks relationship takes a drastic turn after they invite Willy into their home.

With Bated Breath is directed by Bryden MacDonald and Roy Surette. The set and costume designs are by James Lavoie with lighting design by Spike Lyne and sound design by Peter Cerone. With Bated Breath is stage managed by Todd Bricker with apprentice stage manager Stephanie Link.
 
With Bated Breath is performed Tuesday - Saturdays at 8pm (except 5/21 - 7pm), May 10 at 7pm, May 2, 9, 16, 23 at 2pm, May 6, 13 at 1pm. The show closes May 24.



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