EROS Premieres at Court Theatre, 8/27-9/25

In EROS, the new play by Caroline Lark making its world première at The Forge at The Court Theatre, the world of polyamory - participation in multiple simultaneous loving or sexual relationships - is explored in a play director Yvonne Martin describes as "a comedy of contemporary manners with an intriguing twist".

In the comedy, a "circle" of polyamorists (Ali Harper, Matt Hudson and Toby Leach in his Forge debut) head away for a weekend retreat with three prospective new members - a nanotechnologist (Laura Hill) and a couple looking to revitalise their marriage (Claire Dougan and Jon Pheloung). However, more than bodies end up entwining and two members find themselves breaking the one taboo: falling in love.

Martin has enjoyed bringing this new work to the stage for the first time, and says that in the script "every word is a molecule that gets combined in interesting ways to create new and exciting things." Martin says at its heart EROS "boils down to a love story - or, more accurately, a story about love."

Playwright Caroline Lark was in England when she was inspired to write EROS. "I was flicking through TV channels, recovering from jetlag, when I saw a late-night television special on polyamory circles," says Lark. "On the one hand they were talking about 'free love' and 'liberation' while on the other they had these incredibly rigid rules for everything including sex. Love is an unruly beast that won't conform to any rules, so the anomalies were intriguing."

Lark includes some nanotechnology in the play "because it's a twenty-first century issue, like polyamory, that challenges received ideas of what is and isn't possible for us as a society. Also it's good to break the 'geeks aren't sexy' stereotype". EROS will serendipitously be playing at The Forge as a nanotechnology conference, including a public debate chaired by Kim Hill and a nano-art exhibition, organised by the University of Canterbury will be held in the city.

Despite the titillating premise, EROS doesn't contain nudity and is more a 'romantic comedy' than 'sex comedy'. "It looks more at the relationships than the body parts - which is much more interesting for the actors and the audience" says Martin.

EROS opens on August 27 and plays until 25 September.
Venue: The Forge at The Court Theatre, 20 Worcester Blvd, The Arts Centre, Christchurch
Performance Dates: Friday 27 August - Saturday 25 September 2010
Performance Times: 6:30pm Monday & Thursday; 8pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. No show Sundays).
Tickets: Adults $32, Seniors $27, Tertiary Students $22, Group discount (10+) $22, 30Under-Club $15 (Mon-Wed)

For more information, visit www.theforge.org.nz.

 

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