Walker, who was the 2013 recipient of the Ken McDougall Award for Promising Emerging Director, selected King Stag because the tradition has so many parallels with the Fringe. “Shows were bold and responsive to their audience, and troupes would travel from town to town adjusting their stories to the current events of the local audience. By digging into commedia dell’arte’s history, we are looking to learn from their techniques while keeping an eye to present-day Toronto and, in particular, the wild and positive energy of Fringe.”

King Stag is from the commedia dell’ arte ‘silver age’ when playwrights started to take inspiration from the stock characters established in the previous century, weaving them into more detailed, fixed plots. While inspired by the initial improvised tradition, it is an evolution in the form.

Ultimately, Walker says, “This show will reinvigorate audiences’ belief that love can transcend physical boundaries.”

Matthew Walker is co-Artistic Director of Litmus Theatre for which he has adapted and directed Matchbox Macbeth (Top 10 plays of 2010, NOW Magazine), Brave New World (7 MyTheatre Award Nominations) and directed and co-wrote Birth of Frankenstein (Dora Award for Best Direction, Dora Nomination for Best Script).

In King Stag, King Deramo’s search for a wife is undermined by the evil prime minister Tartaglia, who tricks the king into transforming himself into a stag, while Tartaglia transforms into the king. Mayhem ensues, and paranoia threatens to unravel the whole kingdom, but love emerges triumphant.

The cast features a troupe of emerging artists who are all in their final year of training at the Randolph College for the Performing Arts, featuring: Caroline Coon (St. Stephen, NB), Marie-Pier Jean (Orleans, ON), Ethan Kast (Kitchener, ON), Georgia Klebe-McCulloch (North Vancouver, BC), Yohani Lagunas (Mexico), Emma Mary Joyce (St. Albert, AB), Charlotte Reynolds (Toronto, ON), Skye Rogers (St. Catharines, ON), Molly Rumball (Collingwood, ON), Danielle Soule (Oakville, ON-), Ethan Vasquez Taylor (Calgary AB), Russell Wellner (Toronto, ON), Josh Werhun (St. Catharines, ON), and Emi Yasuo (Yokohama, Japan).

Presented by the Randolph College in community partnership with the Toronto Fringe Festival.

Randolph Centre for the Arts — Annex Theatre, 730 Bathurst Street, Toronto
Please note that there is absolutely no latecomer seating.

Tickets: $13 ($11 + $2 service charge) – NOW ON SALE
If available, at-the-door tickets will be sold at the Annex Theatre starting one hour prior to show time, cash sales only, limit of 4/person
Purchase online: fringetoronto.com
By Phone: 416-966-1062
In Person: During the festival at Fringe Festival Box Office, Scadding Court – 707 Dundas Street West.

ABOUT THE RANDOLPH COLLEGE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Since 1992, the Randolph College for the Performing Arts has transformed aspiring artists into multi-talented performers through a rigorous training program that integrates the core disciplines of acting for stage, film and TV; voice; and dance, taught by a pre-eminent faculty of entertainment industry professionals. Faculty and alumni have appeared on Broadway, West End-London, Toronto, Stratford Festival, and Shaw Festival stages, as well as U.S. Tours and in feature films and TV series; worked with Disney, Cirque du Soleil, Vancouver Opera, Globe Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Rainbow Stage, and Charlottetown Festival; and distinguished themselves as singer-songwriters, playwrights, music directors, directors, choreographers, producer, and arts entrepreneurs.
www.randolphacollege.ca