{"id":26029,"date":"2024-11-06T11:17:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T19:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=26029"},"modified":"2024-11-06T11:18:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T19:18:30","slug":"improvised-murder-coming-to-craigdarroch-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2024\/11\/06\/improvised-murder-coming-to-craigdarroch-castle\/","title":{"rendered":"Improvised murder coming to Craigdarroch Castle"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Craigdarroch Castle, with its regal stone towers and polished red oak interior, transports the visitor into the posh life of a wealthy coal baron, and also serves as a perfect setting for a mystery, such as Paper St. Theatre Co.\u2019s Murders on Paper St.<\/i>, which combines improvisation with drama to create a wholly unique experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paper St. Theatre Co. artistic director Dave Morris says that unlike a traditional theatre show, his troupe creates a brand new story with new characters during each performance. Styled off of classic murder-mystery novels, they strive to capture the spirit of old media, rather than reproducing the stories themselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Murders on Paper St.<\/em> runs at Craigdarroch Castle until November 16 (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cNone of it is pre-written, and that\u2019s something that often surprises people when they see the show twice, that they expect it to be more similar,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen we break down a style and study it, we\u2019re trying to find the grammar of the style, like how do they speak, what kinds of characters do they have, what are the themes they tend to explore? We make our choices through the lens of Agatha Christie, instead of trying to take those stories and recreating them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris focuses on creating memorable characters with distinct personalities, physical traits, and pasts. He says that the beauty of improv lies in its transient nature, in the magic behind creating something that will only ever be seen once by one small audience, and never again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy theatre, but the thing I love more about improvisation is that we get to create a play for that audience, for that night, that is just for them, and nobody else ever gets to see it again,\u201d he says. \u201cSome people treat improv like it\u2019s tissue paper, it\u2019s just one use and then disposable, whereas I think of it more like Halley\u2019s Comet, like it happens once, it\u2019s a unique event we\u2019re only ever witnessing in that moment together, and then it\u2019s gone, so you want to be as present as you can to enjoy it. There\u2019s something about an experience that only lasts this one time that is so important, and so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

People often think of improv as purely a frivolous comedy gimmick, but Morris believes that utilizing the vitalizing and powerful energy of improvisation holds boundless capacity for real, meaningful drama.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cImprov is a joyful light that we can take with us into darker places. When you\u2019re watching someone make something up, it\u2019s a joyful experience, even if they\u2019re doing something sad,\u201d he says. \u201cI find that my favourite type of improv is that joyful drama, where the story we\u2019re watching is really serious and really moving, and really powerful, and yet still, as I\u2019m watching it, I\u2019m happy because I know I got to watch you come up with that idea. We can take that joy and go into these serious issues, and explore them, and why would we waste that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris refuses to record his shows, because he feels that excising the \u201clive\u201d aspect from a live performance is antithetical to the very principle of improvisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think capturing it is kind of against the beauty of the medium,\u201d says Morris. \u201cThe medium is meant to live only in that moment, and if you try and capture it then you add this other layer of, \u2018If it\u2019s good, then we\u2019ll share it, but if it\u2019s bad, then we won\u2019t.\u2019 And now you\u2019re no longer improvising, you\u2019re editing, and that to me goes against the whole ethos of improv.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike regular theatre, the audience and the performers are in the same boat, figuring the story out as they go along. Morris says this is what makes improv theatre so unique and enjoyable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making it up. We don\u2019t know anything you don\u2019t know. If you\u2019re ever watching an improv show, and you don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening, then the improvisers also don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening,\u201d says Morris, laughing. \u201cThat\u2019s the fun of improv, is that we\u2019re all in this together, and this is our one chance to make it amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murders on Paper St.
\n<\/i>Various times and days,
\nuntil November 16
\n$32, Craigdarroch Castle
\nthecastle.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Craigdarroch Castle, with its regal stone towers and polished red oak interior, transports the visitor into the posh life of a wealthy coal baron, and also serves as a perfect setting for a mystery, such as Paper St. Theatre Co.\u2019s Murders on Paper St., which combines improvisation with drama to create a wholly unique […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26030,"comment_status":"closed","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":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26029","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=26029"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26032,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26029\/revisions\/26032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}