Local theatre company Vino Buono will be starting their inaugural season this year with the play Blind Portrait. Director Karin Saari says the company has been great to work with because it is willing to focus on topics not always in the spotlight and because they give artists a chance to kickstart their careers.
“I think it’s really incredible to work with a company that not only focuses on Canadian content but also focuses on underrepresented theatre artists,” says Saari. “This industry is so incredibly difficult to work in, and because it’s a collaborative art form we also need the space to do it. It can feel next to impossible for young artists to get their career off the ground. It’s great to have that kind of support and to have that kind of excitement about new work and to be working with people who are not established.”
Blind Portrait fits right into that category of new work. Saari says that the play is hard to describe, as it’s not exactly typical theatre fare.
“The play is a bit abstract,” she says. “It’s about one character, who is nameless and genderless, who’s basically trapped in their own mind. It’s really not a linear play; it has a lot of metaphors and imagery and it’s really quite out there, to be honest. It feels like a stream-of-consciousness kind of piece and it has three characters in it, who are called One, Two, and Three.”
If that’s not enough to throw people’s minds out of orbit, Saari says that the one nameless and genderless character is basically the creator of the two other characters, and it comes to realize that it wants to gain their affection and be liberated from its constraining thoughts.
“Character One feels like it’s trapped by things that it thinks are real,” she says. “It’s created the two other characters, and, as soon as it realizes that it wants to be loved and be free, the other two characters leave it and suddenly it’s alone. It’s a very beautiful, poetic, strange piece that’s filled with movement, lighting, and soundscapes. I think it’s going to be a really fun and interesting piece. I feel like the audience will take away what they want from it. It can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people because it’s not saying anything specific.”
Saari believes that working on something abstract and distinctive, like this play, will help the actors and actresses involved.
“To be able to get a place in the industry, you have to fight tooth and nail for it,” she says. “Once you get that spot, you have to hold on to it as tight as you can and for as long as you can. This style of play allows for people to at least have something really beautiful, really different, and really exciting to put on their resume so they can move forward with some confidence and some experience. I think that’s really important.”
Blind Portrait
8 pm, Wednesday, March 8
to Friday, March 10
$10 student tickets
Intrepid Theatre Club, 1609 Blanshard Street
ticketrocket.co