Joey Shine

By David King

Directed by Peter Hinton

at the Arts Club Theatre

Director’s Notes

When I first heard David King's JOEY SHINE in a play development reading at The Playwrights Theatre Centre, I was struck by its wit, accumulating emotional power and most of all, its audacity.

David King's comedy looks at the value of optimism in an age that has grown increasingly cynical. I think that as we move toward the end of the century, the value and authenticity of positivity becomes increasingly harder to hold onto and believe in.

Our age is one of compulsive therapy and analysis. We look for psychological reform and seek out the causes for human behaviour in an effort to become "functional." Are people informed by trauma and experience? Or do we possess individ ual natures and the need to embrace a variety of uniqueness in the world? At the risk of sounding like Roger Porteus in the play, I find these questions to be the most resonant in JOEY SHINE.

The world of musicals from the 1940's showed human beings to be irrepressibly hopeful, motivated by love and a great sense of community. This ebullience is, by today's standards, naive and often the subject of parody but in Joey's songs we are reminded of the true challenge of hope in the face of reality. If anything, Joey's strength lies in his commitment to finding possibility In the face of the problematic and the obvious.

- Peter Hinton

Cast

Joey Shine -Tyley Ross
Ed Barlyk – Andrew Rhodes
Liz Bryant – Tamsin Kelsey
Harry LaSalle – Greg Kramer
Roger Porteus – Alec Willows
Gary Coleman – Kim Kondrashoff
Glory Hall – Jillian Fargey

Tooba Physical Chorus: Claire Fogal, Adina Hildebrandt, Anne-Marie Lindell, Daniel Lomas, Roari Richardon

Additional Chorus: Laura Gavini, Michael P. Northey

Creative Team

Director – Peter Hinton
Set Design – Ted Roberts
Costume Design – Karen Matthews
Lighting Design – Marsha Sibthorpe
Sound Design – Allen Cole
Stage Manager – David Gillard
Assistant Stage Manager – Todd Bricker
Apprentice SM – Gayle Manktelow