An innovative production that melds a newly developed style of physical performance with film projection and live musical accompaniment, The Belle of Winnipeg is a new original play inspired by the silent film era. The culmination of over four years of collective creation this production combines physicality with a group of engaging characters to introduce a new vocabulary of theatrical expression in silence – save for the live accompaniment of a piano.

The Belle of Winnipeg tells the story of a young woman named Belle, played by Ginette Mohr (Fish Face – Playwrights Theatre – Cultch Theatre Award, A Bird’s Eye View – Theatre LMNOP – Dora Nomination). It is 1882 and our heroine has been shipped off from her comfortable life in France to an arranged marriage in the wilds of Canada. Unimpressed with her new life in Montreal, Belle escapes her wedding only to find herself stranded smack dab in the middle of the dangerous and foreboding frontier town of Winnipeg. From the old CP railways, to drunken bar room brawls, to a well-ntentioned tramp lousing up simple jobs, to a damsel in distress being tied to the train tracks, Belle is a hilarious, exciting and often touching production.

The only “voice” in the play is that of the piano, played by Keystone’s Music Director, Universal Music Canada award winner David Atkinson. In Belle Atkinson both composes and draws from a variety of sources to create a live score that skillfully harkens back to the silent film era with some well placed modern flare.

By bringing this blend of physical performance, live music and filmic elements to the stage and presenting it in an environment that is designed and costumed in black, white and shades of grey, Keystone Theatre will treat audiences to a classic form of entertainment in an entirely new way.

Keystone Theatre is an Equity Approved Co-Op.

The Belle of Winnipeg
Nov 04, 8pm Preview
Nov 05-07, 8pm
Nov 11- 14, 8pm
Sun Nov 08 & 15, 2:00pm, pwyc

Buy tickets online at http://www.totix.ca/

Winchester Street Theatre (80 Winchester Street, Toronto)
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Tickets : $22 /
$17.50 (students/seniors, ACTRA, EQUITY, the Unemployed &Railway Workers)

Co-Created & Performed by: Richard Beaune, Ashley Botting, Adam Bradley, Dana Fradkin, Dylan Juckes, Scott McCulloch, Ginette Mohr, Ted Neal, Phil Rickaby,
Live Musical Accompaniment by: David Atkinson