Firehall Arts Centre to Produce and Present the Canadian Premiere of Patricia Cornelius' SHIT

The Firehall Arts Centre is proud to produce and present the Canadian premiere of Australian playwright Patricia Cornelius' provocative play SHIT from Saturday, January 27 to Saturday, February 10, 2018.

Named Australia's most unapologetic playwright, Cornelius' SHIT examines the lives of three incarcerated underclass women in a manner unseen on most theatre stages. SHIT asks us to consider women with foul mouths and weathered faces, women who spit, fight, swear, hurt and steal; and Billy, Bobby, and Sam - angry, unrelenting, terrifying, damaged women - answer. They discuss fist fights, foster care, babies, their mothers, crying, and what it's like to believe in absolutely nothing.

"There is nothing romantic in these characters' outsider mindsets," says Cornelius. "There is something really admirable about the fight in them, about the struggle to not succumb to whatever everyone thinks they should be or how they should behave. I think women in particular relate to that. I never want to write a moment in a play where a woman succumbs to coquettishness or is sexualized in any way, or has to be grateful or apologetic, or is there to serve some male protagonist. For women, being grateful all the time is exhausting."

A tragic and uncompromising, yet unexpectedly funny production, SHIT is directed by the Firehall Arts Centre's Donna Spencer and features performances by Yoshié Bancroft (Japanese Problem), Sharon Crandall (Satellites), and Kayla Deorksen (Green Lake).

"When I saw this work at the Sydney Festival and then had the opportunity to meet Patricia, I knew immediately this was a play that the Firehall should stage," says Spencer. "It is hard-hitting, political, heart-wrenching, and mind-bending. I am pleased to be directing this work and to have the opportunity to work with three of Vancouver's finest young actors."

Credits for SHIT

Written by: Patricia Cornelius

Directed by: Donna Spencer

Performances by: Yoshié Bancroft, Sharon Crandall, & Kayla Deorksen

Set Design by: Conor Moore

Lighting Design by: Kyla Gardiner

Stage Management by: Susan D. Currie

For more information on the Firehall Arts Centre, please visit www.firehallartscentre.ca