{"id":10000,"date":"2014-11-26T06:47:16","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T14:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=10000"},"modified":"2014-11-24T11:50:16","modified_gmt":"2014-11-24T19:50:16","slug":"venus-in-fur-brings-a-bit-of-masochism-to-the-belfry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2014\/11\/26\/venus-in-fur-brings-a-bit-of-masochism-to-the-belfry\/","title":{"rendered":"Venus in Fur<\/em> brings a bit of masochism to the Belfry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Venus in Fur<\/i>, currently playing at the Belfry Theatre, is an intimate play about the provocative power relationship between an auditioning actress and a director; in other words, this isn\u2019t a play you would want to bring children to.<\/p>\n

Based on the book by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the play deals with themes of masochism, power, and seduction. The plot revolves around an actress, Vanda Jordan, who shows up late to an audition and tries to convince the director to give her a chance through seduction.<\/p>\n

Celine Stubel, who portrays Jordan, says her character \u201ccraves that intimacy\u201d and because of the sensual and masochistic nature of the play, she says it\u2019s important to have a strong \u201ccomfort level and trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Plenty of hot-topic themes are explored within Venus in Fur (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFor me it\u2019s a real gift to play a part like this,\u201d says Stubel. \u201cIt\u2019s good to get an opportunity to go outside of your comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venus in Fur<\/i> is a show that is comprised of only two main character roles, the actress and the director, accentuating the themes of power conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt addresses the power and balance that are ingrained into our society from the beginning of time,\u201d says Stubel. \u201cMy character ends up taking control of the play through magic elements like lighting and bits of costumes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, this isn\u2019t a play that only deals with themes of power and sex; it also contains elements of comedy and lightheartedness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really entertaining and smartly written; it\u2019s really, really funny,\u201d says Stubel. \u201cIt\u2019s a great mix, presented in an accessible way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actors crack jokes throughout the show; at one point they make fun of the Lou Reed song \u201cVenus in Furs.\u201d And you don\u2019t have to be a kinky masochist or a power-hungry sex deviant to enjoy this play; it\u2019s done in a certain way that every audience member can both enjoy and be curious towards.<\/p>\n

One reason the play has found ever-growing support is through its sophistication, dealing mainly with the characters\u2019 personality clashes. The dialogue is fast and witty, so the audience will need to pay attention to keep up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s exciting that the Belfry is doing this play; I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve ever done a play like this before,\u201d says Strubel. \u201cIt\u2019s always a gift when you add in the audience; they\u2019re the final piece of the puzzle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venus in Fur
\n<\/i>Until December 14
\n$33 and up, The Belfry Theatre
\nbelfry.bc.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Venus in Fur, currently playing at the Belfry Theatre, is an intimate play about the provocative power relationship between an auditioning actress and a director; in other words, this isn\u2019t a play you would want to bring children to. Based on the book by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the play deals with themes of masochism, power, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-november-26-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10002,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10000\/revisions\/10002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}