Eli Yaschuk and Rain Matkin in Radiant Vermin, Northern Light Theatre. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography. Set and costumes Trevor Schmidt, lighting Larissa Poho, video and projections Matt Schuurman
Eli Yaschuk and Rain Matckin in Radiant Vermin, Northern Light Theatre. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography.
By Liz Nicholls, .ca
“Really shocking,” says Trevor Schmidt cheerfully of the wicked satire that opens Friday as the finale of Northern Light Theatre’s ‘Making A Monster’ season. “And really funny.”
He compares the appealing, perky young couple we meet in Radiant Vermin, to … the Macbeths. Think about that (and shudder): what would — or wouldn’t — that aspirational Scottish pair do to get their mitts on their dream home? Anyhow, Jill and Ollie stand before us to explain, jointly, their amazing shortcut, too good to be true?, up the property ladder to home ownership.
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“Once we’ve … explained – Why we did – What we did – Then you’ll understand. Because everything we did … We did it all – For baby!”
At a time in our collective history when the housing crisis is big, and real, and infinitely discussable, the 2015 satire by the controversial Ridley, a leading figure in the “in-yer-face” theatre movement in ‘90s Britain, could scarcely be more timely. “It’s hit a big moment,” as Schmidt puts it. And with Radiant Vermin the playwright “has clearly mellowed since his early stuff, even more twisted and macabre.”
Schmidt himself was slated to be in a Calgary production (it never in the end went forward) of Ridley’s seminal 1990 play The Pitchfork Disney, with Rebecca Northan (Goblin: Macbeth). Among other things, he says of that play, “it’s about a group auctioning off an eight-year-old.” He compares Ridley to Mark Ravenhill, of Shopping and Fucking fame.
Eli Yaschuk and Rain Matin, Radiant Vermin, Northern Light Theatre. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography
Schmidt’s production stars Eli Yaschuk and Rain Matkin, the hottest up-and-comers in Edmonton theatre. Recent grads of MacEwan University’s theatre program, the pair, real-life best friends, starred in Jim Guedo’s MacEwan production of Sunday in the Park With George. Since then they’ve impressed Edmonton audiences — Matkin in Romeo and Juliet’s Notebook at the Spotlight Cabaret; Yaschuk in The Noon Witch at Teatro Live!. Schmidt is so appreciative of their professionalism, their work ethic, their level of skill, he says. Their co-star, as the mysterious real estate agent cum facilitator Miss Dee, is the octogenarian actor Holly Turner, a long-time Northern Light fave (The Testament of Mary, Origins of the Species, The Busy World Is Hushed).
The show, Schmidt says, has “a lot of lines and a lot of choreography.” Ainsley Hillyard, a choreographer of the theatrical persuasion, “worked with them for three hours every day.”
At the extreme opposite end of the theatrical spectrum from the dark Faustian satire of Radiant Vermin, Schmidt is also directing this year’s “lawyer play,” Sondheim’s musical comedian dell’arte vaudeville A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. The production, which runs May 9 at the Eva O. Howard Theatre, is the 18th annual edition of Players de Novo’s fund-raising initiative, cast entirely from amongst Edmonton’s legal professionals. It makes for a complicated rehearsal schedule, as Schmidt laughs, with a sigh.”Really I don’t even know what day it is….”
Eli Yaschuk and Rain Matkin, Radiant Vermin, Northern Light Theatre. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography
Since Jill and Ollie address us directly, and even consult us at one point, “the audience is so implicated,” says Schmidt of Radiant Vermin. “They make conscious choices to let the monster out…. They choose to ignore the red flags. And we’re cheering them.”
Yes, “wicked” is the right word, thinks Schmidt. “It’s about wickedness … the dark side of people’s souls.” The Northern Light archive, including the current season (Monstress, Angry Alan) has its share of plays that live on that dark side. “Horror” has a particular fascination for him. “I’m interested in protagonists with moral dilemmas — between protecting themselves and their responsibility to others. The struggle between being ‘a good person’ and selfish, cowardly things.”
He’s intrigued by characters who think “I’m going to do something that’s going to benefit myself. Can I get away with it, without suffering social repercussions?…. How bad can I be?” If you’re going to sell your soul to get what you want, the price is very high.
There’s a big spoiler alert attached to much about Radiant Vermin. So the application to real estate, property, and upward mobility is something we have to discover for ourselves.
PREVIEW
Radiant Vermin
Theatre: Northern Light Theatre
Written by: Philip Ridley
Directed by: Trevor Schmidt
Starring: Eli Yaschuk, Rain Matkin, Holly Turner
Where: Studio Theatre, Fringe Theatre Arts Barns, 10330 84 Ave.
Running: Friday through May 3
Tickets: northernlighttheatre.com
