THE WAR OF 1812 Begins 4/9 at The Young Centre for the Performing Arts

Toronto area theatre-lovers who were unable to get a ticket to the sold-out run at the Stratford Festival have got another chance. Tickets are now on sale at the Young Centre Box Office. The run begins Tues April 9. To order by telephone: 416-866-8666 / Online: www.youngcentre.ca / see it first: Previews just $20.

The War of 1812 will be waged by the brave-hearted VideoCab troops, still fragrant from their heroic conquest of Stratford in 2012. At the invitation of Albert Schultz and Leslie Lester, the Young Centre for the Performing Arts will be our theatre of war. The War of 1812 begins its Toronto engagement on Tuesday April 9 - two hundred years to the month since the original drama inflamed the town of York.

In welcoming VideoCabaret to the Young Centre, Soulpepper's Albert Schultz states: "There are very few artists in the world that manage to be seminal and groundbreaking at once ... in Toronto (and perhaps alone in Ontario) it is Michael Hollingsworth and Deanne Taylor's VideoCabaret ... for four decades these masterly renegades have been pushing down walls at the same time that they have been constructing a profoundly sound and unique artistic aesthetic."

Staged in VideoCabaret's signature 'black-box' style, The War of 1812 challenges designers and performers to conjure up dozens of characters in tiny shards of light, with Dervish level choreography. Eight actors portray more than fifty-five characters, including Sir Isaac Brock, Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, John Strachan, Governor General Prevost, Laura Secord, President Madison, Dolly Madison and General Winfield Scott.

The War of 1812 is a newly devised chapter in Michael Hollingsworth's epic 21-part play-cycle, The History of the Village of the Small Huts, which satirizes and dramatizes Canada's history from Chief Donnacona and Jacques Cartier through to recent times - stories that capture Canadian society high and low, seized by powerful ideas and passions. In each play, the Acting Ensemble portrays dozens of characters, the legends and losers who made this country what it is. Michael's wildly original scripts are matched by the ensemble's extraordinary staging technique and visual style. The History Plays premiered 1985-99, delighting audiences with spectacle and substance. VideoCabaret is now re-inventing the Repertoire, and winning new audiences and honours for these classic plays.

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