{"id":9981,"date":"2014-11-26T06:13:48","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T14:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=9981"},"modified":"2014-11-24T11:16:54","modified_gmt":"2014-11-24T19:16:54","slug":"directors-of-the-small-room-at-the-top-of-the-stairs-embrace-darkness-in-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2014\/11\/26\/directors-of-the-small-room-at-the-top-of-the-stairs-embrace-darkness-in-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Directors of The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs<\/em> embrace darkness in art"},"content":{"rendered":"

When someone says the word \u201cdirector,\u201d images of Broadway and Hollywood come to mind. But speaking to director Naomi Simpson, images of prison replace all thoughts of celebrity life. No, she\u2019s not an inmate, but she has directed shows in Victoria at William Head Institution. And despite her unique directing background, she hasn\u2019t been doing it for long: her true passion is acting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been an actor all my life, and I have done some directing. It\u2019s just been in the last couple of years that I started to direct again,\u201d says Simpson. \u201cI like directing, but my heart is as an actor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs is a psychological thriller (photo by David Lowes).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her assistant director at Langham Court Theatre, Julian Cervello, feels the same way. His background is also as an actor, and he is just now developing his directing career. But these two passionate actors have come together to direct a psychological thriller, The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs<\/i>. Both were drawn to this play for the darker themes, and jumped on the opportunity to explore the story further.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gravitate towards dark themes because I brought myself up on Shakespeare and the tragedies and history plays; they have so much vital life,\u201d explains Cervello. \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of theatre that I like to see, so it\u2019s the kind of theatre that I like to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson agrees with Cervello and also takes it a step further: she says theatre shouldn\u2019t just be about happy endings, because that\u2019s so rarely the case in reality. She feels responsible for shining light on the gloomy things encompassing humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely also veer towards work that is darker,\u201d says Simpson. \u201cI do believe that we have a responsibility as storytellers not just to entertain but to hold up that mirror to society because the world we live in is so very complex and often dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson says this play in particular will leave the audience pondering questions about themselves and their relationships. It\u2019s important to tell stories with real life themes and problems because that\u2019s what people can relate to and what audiences find thrilling, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTelling stories that reflect the nature of society that way is not only important but also exciting for the audience,\u201d she says. \u201cI tend to stay away from the tame and trite for entertainment value. In fact, I absolutely rally against it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s the actress in her, or maybe it\u2019s the director who accepts the dark themes with an artistic heart. Either way, both Simpson and Cervello agree that they chose this project because this play is not only entertaining and funny, but also a terrifying journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just found it to be a sublimely translated play with a lot of beauty in the language,\u201d says Simpson, \u201cand yet a very suspenseful, curious play that took me down hallways and up staircases and through doors and dark alleys in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs
\n<\/i>November 20 to December 6
\n$19-$21, Langham Court Theatre
\nlanghamtheatre.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When someone says the word \u201cdirector,\u201d images of Broadway and Hollywood come to mind. But speaking to director Naomi Simpson, images of prison replace all thoughts of celebrity life. No, she\u2019s not an inmate, but she has directed shows in Victoria at William Head Institution. And despite her unique directing background, she hasn\u2019t been doing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9982,"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-9981","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\/9981","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=9981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9983,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9981\/revisions\/9983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}