Canadian Play Interview with a Demon Opening in Toronto!

No, it’s not another play about Stephen Harper, Ha! Too soon?

Interview with a Demon Banner

Seriously, the world premiere of Interview with a Demon is opening in Toronto.

Demons are people too. At least, they used to be. INTERVIEW WITH A DEMON puts one such diabolical eyewitness on the Hot Seat to explore what really happens in the afterlife.

Bradley Gibb has it all. A beautiful wife, a palatial home in the suburbs and a great job hosting the most popular talk show on television – The Hot Seat With Bradley Gibb. Then, one day, all hell breaks loose – his wife is unexpectedly possessed by a Demon and it looks like he might lose her altogether. Bradley ties her up to wait for the priest when it occurs to him that filming an actual exorcism for The Hot Seat would make for bombshell ratings. But when the exorcist shows up and the demon offers them an exclusive on-camera, no-holds-barred interview, the stakes go through the roof.

Written by Toronto filmmaker and theatre producer Mark Terry, this irreverent comedy will make you rethink everything you ever took as gospel truth (literally or metaphorically!)

Directed by horror-comedy specialist — and Artistic Director of the Beech Street Theatre Company — Michael Khashmanian (Serum for Murder, Franken’s Hyde), Interview with a Demon may play havoc with people’s understanding of Heaven and Hell, God and Satan, life and death – once they stop laughing, that is. “It’s a fascinating and very funny script,” said Khashmanian. “It may challenge your entire belief system.”

The production stars Ryan Graham (The Architect, The Assassins Tale) as ambitious and opportunistic TV personality Bradley Gibb. His wife and The Hot Seat director, Boodle, is played by Vicktoria Adam (Hair, The Nightmare Before Christmas). The Hot Seat’s hapless cameraman Pat Lor is played by Alex Clay (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) while exorcist Father Francis Flanagan is played by John Fitzgerald (The Long Weekend, The Odd Couple).

Special Guest and Canadian comedy legend Seán Cullen voices the Producer of The Hot Seat, the all-powerful ‘Tom’. Cullen (Murdoch Mysteries, The Producers and Corky and the Juice Pigs) is a multi-talented performer, a triple Gemini and Canadian Comedy Award winner, a Dora nominee, and an award-winning author.

B.SMART Producers Abigail Pinto Correia and Boyan Stergulc discovered the script in Cannes, France during the 2014 MIPCOM television market and immediately optioned its film rights. They are producing this stage version as part of its journey towards becoming a full feature film. “The play is hilarious and thought-provoking at the same time,” said Pinto Correia. “Intelligent comedies are hard to come by.”

Playwright Mark Terry is perhaps best known as an environmental documentary filmmaker (The Polar Explorer), but has returned to his theatre roots with this inter-dimensional exposé of the hereafter.

The Alumnae Theatre Mainspace
70 Berkeley St, Toronto
Preview Tuesday Nov 10 7:30pm
Show Opens November 11 – November 15 7:30
Matinee performance Sunday Nov 15 at 3:00pm

Tickets:
Tickets available at Valhalla Cards 791 Queen Street West, Toronto (416) 203-6328
$25 each, Preview Night $15 each.

Tickets are also available at www.eventjoy.com/e/interview-with-a-demon and at the door.

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The CNE Midway, Freaky and Fabulous!

It’s been about a hundred years since the days of the pictures below, and it occurred to me that while people once flocked to the Midway to see Freaks and Curiosities, people now flock there to eat deep-fried butter and snickers bars, the Freak-Foods of the modern age. Having said that, it also seems strange that people would pay money to see obese people. Today, one would simply need to look through the crowds at the CNE, at the games, in the deep-fried line-ups to see many people just as large as the stars of Johnny J. Jones’ Congress of Fat People. Perhaps as a public service, the CNE should bring back the Sideshow.

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CCT0005 CNE, Toronto c1913. Johnny J. Jones presents the Congress of Fat People (above) at the Midway. The “Congress” cast (below) featuring Big Boss Henry, Little Emma, and Baby Louis.
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