Can a woman with a farcical curse find a normal, happy life without all the hijinx? Only if she can get to the root of her curse during her stay in a flat affectionately known as "The Aquarium."
The Aquarium was originally produced by Triple Take Productions, and Good Egg Productions for the Fringe of Toronto Festival in 2010. For reviews, check out Mooney on Theatre: http://www.mooneyontheatre.com/2010/07/03/review-the-aquarium-good-egg-and-triple-take-productions-2010-toronto-fringe-review/, Theatromania: http://www.theatromania.ca/2010/07/toronto-fringe-festival-%E2%80%94-the-aquarium.html, and the Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/theatre/fringe/article/831943--fringe-fest-some-hits-more-misses. Synopsis: Jeanette is a lapsed writer and a woman cursed. She is surrounded by “farce” wherever she goes and whomever she’s with. Her roommates, Jen and Gen, have had enough of it. They kick Jeanette out and now have time together, alone at last! Alex is a grad student recently stung by the bitter barb of love. George is his sexually aggressive roommate. They need a new roomie to replace Greta, Alex’s failed romance. They also need a new rule: no dating roommates living in “The Aquarium”, their flat. Jeanette comes along and seems the perfect answer to their quest for the perfect roommate, until both Alex and George fall for her, but she only has eyes for Alex! In a series of comic events that follow, Alex and George vie for Jeanette’s attention, Jen and Gen declare their love for each other and all feel the upstairs neighbour, Bob, seems to see all and know everything about them, but how? When Alex confronts Jeanette about her writing, wondering why she quit, Jeanette’s curse lets loose full force, putting Alex’s life in danger. Jeanette knows she must write again to break the curse and save Alex. Once she does, everything falls back into place. She and Bob switch apartments so that she and Alex can date and still observe The Aquarium house rules. Only then does she discover the secret to Bob’s omniscient-like behaviour! The characters and title of The Aquarium are inspired by some pets I previously owned. My husband and I always enjoyed watching the antics of our pet frogs and fish: Gorgalforx and Vixen, our firebelly toads, Bob, our floating frog, and Alex, a reed frog, plus a number of fish. Their quirks translated into George, Jeanette, Bob and Alex, and new characters Jen and Gen came along later. I asked Allison McWood to co-write the play with me because of our mutual love of frogs, and because we often joked that sometimes her life seemed like one of her plays. Besides that, of all my writer friends, she’s the very best at farce! The play has the feel of a sitcom, which suits the underlying tone of the play as characters often feel “watched from above”, like they watch their own pets through the top of their aquarium. This is the reason that George and Alex refer to their own apartment as “The Aquarium.” We were fortunate enough to have a very talented comedic cast to bring out all these subtle, and not-so-subtle, comedic forms. Jason Reilly (Alex), Andrea Lyons (Jen) and Sandra Krstin (Gen), and Scott Moore (Bob) have all been involved in previous Triple Take Productions’ comedies (Jason and Scott in It Was Kit, Jason and Sandra in The Paradise Lust Romance Series, and Andrea and Jason in New Ideas ’07 entry, Shakespeare’s Brain – Jason also has Second City training and performance experience) and bring us their comic talents once again. Triple Take and Good Egg newbies Allison Price (Second City, NOW Audience Choice award-winning sketch member), Nate Callens, and two of our leads, Kristen Corvers and Anthony Palmer rounded out the funny-folk. -- Regan W. H. Macaulay BUY THE SCRIPT THROUGH LULU.COM!
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Regan W. H. Macaulay
Regan is the Artistic Director and Producing Manager of Triple Take Productions. She is also one of the writers. Archives
June 2015
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