Join Vanya, Sonia, Masha, and Spike in Belfry’s Final Play of the Season

Vanya and Sonia have lived in the house in which they grew up their entire lives, through caring for their ailing parents and never venturing out to create lives for themselves. When their movie-star sister Masha arrives one day with her much younger beau, Spike, the ensuing havoc helps to reinvigorate their lives.

With a mix of young and old characters, this Tony award-winning comedy by Christopher Durang provides a script that is both comedic and engaging, and nostalgic and heartwarming. The setting is homey and personable, and much more present than many of the Belfry productions.

Lee Majdoub in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang / Photos by David Cooper

The middle aged siblings are rather dull, but that’s the way their life is. Sonia fusses and worries over everything while her brother Vanya calmly glides through life. That is, until their cleaning lady predicts catastrophes, a friendly neighbour brings out Vanya’s creative side, and their sister arrives ready to sell the house. Deborah Williams’ Sonia is an understated foil to her sister Masha (Brenda Robins) with a full heart that helps to ground the production. Lee Majdoub (Spike) is hilarious as the frequently mindless and always hilarious boytoy.

The first act brings many of the laughs, allowing a subtle emotional buildup that the second act is able to focus on. Although the play certainly seems to be intended for the middle-aged, and Vanya’s monologue went a little long, it still delivered through comedic timing and a stunning group of actors.

Ticket Information

Tickets for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike range from $23 to $52 (plus GST). Tickets for High School Students are 50% off and 25% off for University & College Students. Tickets are available at 250-385-6815 or online at tickets.belfry.bc.ca.

Performance Schedule (April 14 – May 17, 2015)

Tuesdays – Saturdays at 8 pm
Wednesday Matinees at 1 pm (April 22 & 29)
Saturday Matinees at 4 pm
Sunday Matinees at 2 pm

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, TONY Award Winning Comedy, Comes to Belfry

“Brainy and witty and clever and cute…” Variety

From April 14 to May 17 the Belfry Theatre will present Christopher Durang’s Tony Award-winning comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Directed by Michael Shamata,

the show stars Yoshié Bancroft, Lee Majdoub, Brenda Robins, Carmela Sison, R.H. Thomson and Deborah Williams.

Middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia have never left the confines of their childhood home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After spending their adulthood looking after their now-dead parents, neither has a job, and money is provided by their movie star sister Masha, who owns the house and pays the bills.

Their bucolic bliss is thrown into disarray when Masha returns home with her new, rather young, lover in tow, sparking a fiery bout of rivalry.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike premiered at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey in 2012 and transferred to Broadway in 2013.

Actor / playwright Durang wrote the characters of Masha and Sonia for his longtime friends Sigourney Weaver and Kristine Nielsen. He wrote the character of Vanya for himself but David Hyde Pierce (Dr. Niles Crane on the sitcom Frasier) originated the role. Pierce actually made his Broadway debut in another Durang play, Beyond Therapy, in 1982 (Beyond Therapy was produced by the Belfry in September 1988).

 

Ticket Information
Tickets for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike range from $23 to $52 (plus GST). Tickets for High School Students are 50% off and 25% off for University & College Students. Tickets are available at 250-385-6815 or online at tickets.belfry.bc.ca.

 

Performance Schedule (April 14 – May 17, 2015)

Tuesdays – Saturdays at 8 pm
Wednesday Matinees at 1 pm (April 22 & 29)
Saturday Matinees at 4 pm
Sunday Matinees at 2 pm

 

Audience Engagement Events

B4Play – Saturday, April 11 at 11am
Join CBC Radio’s Gregor Craigie for a live talk show with artists from Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and some very special community guests. Free event.

Afterplay Weeks – April 21– 25 / May 5 – 9
Following selected performances of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, we’ll host Afterplay – a facilitated discussion where patrons can share their thoughts with fellow audience members. It’s a chance to“debrief”after the show and hear how other audience members experienced the play.

Talkback Thursday – Thursday, April 23
Following the 8pm performance of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, join the actors from the show and your fellow audience members for a 20-minute Q & a session.

 

Related Events

Free Childcare Performance – Sunday, April 26 During select Sunday matinee performances, we offer free, professional childcare (ages 3–10) at the Springridge Early Childhood Centre at 1222 Gladstone Avenue, just a block from the Belfry (free parking is available right across the street in the Victoria High School parking lot). We only have a limited number of spots available. To book tickets and childcare, call our Box Office at 250-385-6815.

Booksmack ! – Monday, April 27 at 7:30 pm
The librarians are back! Fast, furious and fun, Greater Victoria Public librarians return to the Belfry for Booksmack. They will let their hair down, take off their glasses and speed review their favourite books. Deborah Williams from Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will be joining the librarians for this special event.

Tantoo Cardinal to star in The Rez Sisters at the Belfry this September.

Single tickets for the Belfry Theatre’s mainstage season are on sale now. The Belfry’s mainstage season includes David Ives’ highly erotic Tony Award nominated Venus in Fur, a double bill of Daniel MacIvor’s latest comedy, The Best Brothers and the loving and compelling How to Disappear Completely (co-written by Itai Erdal, James Long, Anita Rochon and Emelia Symington Fedy), Christopher Durang’s 2013 Tony Award-winning comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and Tomson Highway’s breakout play, The Rez Sisters, starring Tantoo Cardinal.

Ms. Cardinal gained international recognition playing Black Shawl in Dances With Wolves (1990) opposite Kevin Costner and Graham Greene. Her other films include Black Robe (1991; based on the novel by Brian Moore), and Legends of the Fall (1994) with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins. In Silent Tongue (1994), written and directed by Sam Shepard, she played the title role. She received the best actress award at the American Indian Film Festival for her part in Where the Rivers Flow North (1994), with Richard Harris and Alan Bates and played a major role in Smoke Signals (1998).

Cardinal has also had roles in several television series including Annie in Spirit Bay(1982-87), a recurring role as Snow Bird on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993-95), and as Betty Moses on North of 60 (1993-97), for which she won a 1996 Gemini Award for best actress in a guest role.

In 1998 she received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award to recognize her work in theatre, television and film and in 1995 she won the Sir Peter Ustinov Award from the Banff Television Festival.

Tantoo was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2009 and holds honorary doctorates from four universities.