Don Quixote’s quest in a tale of courage and madness has captivated readers for more than four centuries and is reimagined with masks, magic, and mayhem in this touring production which stops in Maple Ridge this weekend.
It is physical comedy at its finest, brought to you in collaboration with Axis Theatre Company, creators of the smash hit The Number 14.
The adaptation by co-creators Peter Anderson and Colin Heath explores the comical and philosophical world of Don Quixote (Peter Anderson), a retired country gentleman, who has become obsessed with ancient books of knighthood and chivalry. Inspired by his readings, he sets out on a quest to defend the helpless and destroy the wicked, alongside his faithful and naive squire, Sancho Panza (Michel Perron), to whom he has promised wealth and power. Preceded by their reputations everywhere they go, they eventually find themselves asking: who’s mad in a world gone mad?
Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, published in two volumes a decade apart (1605 and 1615), is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published and was recently voted The Greatest Book of All Time by the Nobel Institute.
“I’m thrilled to be bringing this inventive adaptation of the classic to communities across the Lower Mainland,” says Bill Millerd, Arts Club artistic managing director.
Co-creator Anderson explains the enduring appeal of this tragic-comic hero.
“Throwing himself totally into the realm of his imagination, our hero dons the mask of a medieval knight like the ones in his beloved books. But the paradox of masks is that even as they hide our everyday appearance, they simultaneously reveal a greater truth.”
Don Quixote plays the ACT, Saturday, Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. For tickets, call 604-476-2787 or visit actmapleridge.org.