Laura Power
Northern News Services
Monday, June 25, 2007

IQALUIT - Showing in Iqaluit this week is a production which, according to director Valmai Goggin, is different than anything that's been done in the city before.

The Room, a one-act play by Harold Pinter, was written 50 years ago and is now being produced by Part Time Players as part of the Alianait! Arts Festival's lineup.

"It's a bit heavier than anything that's been done before in community theatre in Iqaluit," said Goggin. We're really looking forward to what kind of reaction and feedback we're going to be getting from our audiences."

The play is about a woman named Rose who is visited by a series of visitors one evening in the boarding house she lives in.

After months of preparing, six Iqaluit actors (Andrew Kerr, Maryse Mahy, Alek Montpetit, John Robertson, Odile Nelson and Kakki Peter) and a team of behind-the-scenes workers are about to tell this story in 45 minutes of acting.

"...I was looking for people who would be comfortable and confident onstage," said Goggin. "I was really looking for individuals I thought would work well together."

In the end, Nelson was chosen to play the main role of Rose while the other five actors will play the strangers she meets throughout the night.

Goggin, who is very interested in Pinter's work, said she also chose the play because she is interested in productions that can challenge the audience.

"I was also really just interested in doing something really different that hasn't been done before," she said. "It's definitely an experiment in a lot of senses."

She said she also feels Northerners will be able to relate to this play in particular.

"We live in the North in such a challenging environment and a challenging land... in the play it's sort of really Rose against the world, and I think that sometimes it can feel like that living up North," she said.

The play will have two performances during the Alianait! Arts Festival which will take place on June 28 and June 29.