Exposure – Toronto Fringe 2015 Press Release

“Exposure is imaginative, eccentric, surprising and fun.”

Exposure - Greg Wanless
Excerpted from press release:
Paris, spring, 1838. The collision of three lives — inventor Louis Daguerre, his ex-mistress, and a suicidal young man — leads to the birth of photography as we know it in this bright new comedic fantasy from award-winning Canadian playwright John Lazarus. Imaginative, eccentric, surprising and fun, EXPOSURE features an all-star creative team and plays July 1-10 at the Robert Gill Theatre as part of the 2015 Toronto Fringe Festival.
EXPOSURE: A bright spring morning in Paris. Inventor Louis Daguerre is struggling to photograph a living being, but his camera speed is far too slow — the pictures he takes from his office window still make the bustling Boulevard du Temple look utterly deserted. Everyone goes by too fast to register on the plate, and his colleagues laugh at him and say it can’t be done – until one day a chance meeting with his ex-mistress Mme. Brilliante leads to an opportunity that changes our world in ways they could not have imagined.
Playwright John Lazarus is well known for his iconic plays Babel Rap, Dreaming and Duelling, and Village of Idiots. He is the recipient of a Chalmers Award, a Writers’ Guild of Canada Top Ten Award, the World Gold Medal for children’s radio drama, and the International Association of Film Critics FIPRESCI Grand Prize at the 1998 Montreal Film Festival (Village of Idiots, National Film Board). Lazarus made waves atthe Vancouver Fringe as the writer/performer of smash hit (and “Best of the Fringe” pick) Medea’s Disgust, lauded by the press as “Great” (The Vancouver Province),“Brilliant” (The Georgia Straight) and “Perfect” (The Vancouver Sun).
Directed by Kathryn Mackay (The Drowning Girls, The Russian Play/Essay, The Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, Thousand Islands Playhouse; Women Who Shout at the Stars, Summerworks 2014/Critics Choice Award at The Ottawa Fringe; Theatre Orangeville; PeerLess Productions), EXPOSURE features veteran actor/director Craig Walker (The Turn of the Screw at Tarragon Theatre and The Winter’s Tale at Harbourfront Centre, both for Theatre Kingston; St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival; Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival) as ‘Louis Daguerre’, Gemini Award Nominee Laurel Paetz (Wendy Lill’sSisters, Primedia Productions; ten seasons Blyth Festival; Prairie Theatre Exchange) as ‘Mme. Brilliante’, and introducing up-and-coming actor/producer Christopher Blackwell(of Theatre Mies) as ‘Anonyme’. Set Design by Bill Penner (Soulpepper). Video design by Kevin Tanner. Stage managed by Kathleen Harrison.
Showtimes:
  • Wed July 1 @ 10:30pm
  • Sat July 4 @ 12:30pm
  • Sun July 5 @ 11:00pm
  • Mon July 6 @ 5:15pm
  • Wed July 8 @ 7:45pm
  • Thur July 9 @ 9:15pm
  • Fri July 10 @ 4:30pm

Venue: Robert Gill Theatre (214 College St, 3rd floor)

Tickets for all Fringe productions are $10, $12 in advance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062, business hours only), in-person from the festival box office located in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s, (481 Bloor West), or — if any remain — from the venue box office (cash-only), starting one hour before showtime.

The festival offers a range of money-saving passes for committed Fringers; see website for details.

Be advised that Fringe shows always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted.

Photo by Greg Wanless