Do you have a date for the apocalypse?
Some doomsday’ers predict May 21, giving the public enough time to catch the latest play from Progress Theatre Company Production at Smith & Company called Boom, a dark comedy, which touches on the end of the world.
“Every now and then there is some talk about how the end of the world is coming and apparently the next time people are waiting for the rapture, as they call it, is May 21. Oddly enough a week after our play, so before the hyped real rapture,” joked director Pamela Campion. “I think this play is really funny and challenging. Penticton has not seen a play quite like this and appeals to anyone who thinks about who will inherit the earth, are we alone and what is going to happen next? It provokes a lot of questions and you have to figure out the answers yourself.”
Jules, played by Justin Hambidge, is a grad student in marine biology who meets Jo, played by rhean Murray.
The pair meet one Saturday night in Jules’s small underground laboratory on a university campus after Jo, a journalism student, answers Jules’s online personal ad promising, “sex to change the course of the world.”
During his research on a deserted tropical island, Jules discovered patterns among the behaviour of fish that seemed to portend a premature end to most forms of earthly life. So he turned his tiny lab/apartment into a place to wait out the disaster and begin remaking humanity. The play also stars Alanna Matthew who plays Barbara a mysterious character that is the audience’s guide.
“When I heard about the play, which had a theme of imminent destruction of the world using comedy and competent science, I was intrigued and went to see it in Portland, Oregon last winter,” said Campion. “The playwright did a double major in Marine Biology and Theatre. The result was a hilarious, but thought provoking play.”
The play, by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and directed by Campion, comes with a warning of strong language that is not suitable for children.
This play will be the Penticton entry for the O Zone Drama Festival in Kelowna.
Boom opens on May 13 at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are only available at the door of Smith &Company.
Tickets are $15 and a two for one special is available on Friday.
Performances also run Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. and a special matinee at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets for those times are also $15.