The world premiere of new Canadian musical The Quest takes the stage in Oak Bay this week.
The Studio Ensemble of the Canadian College of Performing Arts performs the joint creation of musician Murray Foster and composer Kieren MacMillan, Feb. 11 to 19.
The story sees four high schoolers play the role-playing game Quest and bring to life a wizard, a bard and a barbarian. One night, instead of quests within the game, the game-master challenges the others to take on real-life tasks. This launches all four on a journey to leave the safety of their fantasy world and confront their greatest personal fears.
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“This show provides students the chance to delve deep into the development process, work directly with the creators, and embed their voice into a piece specifically relatable to young audiences,” CCPA managing artistic director Caleb Marshall said in a release.
The Studio Ensemble worked collaboratively alongside playwrights Foster and MacMillan, as well as music director Jeff Poynter, and director and choreography mentor Stephanie Graham.
“The characters of The Quest are much deeper than they were prior to CCPA. Working with actors whose job it is to bring characters to life forces you to think of the characters as real people,” Foster said.
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Audiences are advised the show contains mild language and flashing lights.
As is tradition at the college, a relaxed performance will be held for the first Saturday matinee, Feb. 12 at 12:30 p.m. This type of performance is intended specifically for audience members who may find the usual theatre environment challenging. There’s a more casual approach to front-of-house etiquette and the performance is slightly adapted, with lights remaining on low throughout and audience members free to leave and re-enter at any point.
Tickets for live performance, streams and video on demand are available at tickets.ccpacanada.com.
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