The age-old story of love versus power is the focus of the upcoming Brock production Big Love.

Photo: Karyn McCallum

The play tells the story of 50 brides (all sisters) who flee arranged marriages to 50 grooms (their cousins) who pursue them across Italy. A contemporary look at Aeschylus’s Greek tragedy The Suppliant Women, the play will be performed by the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts on Feb. 11 to 13.

In Big Love, three of the runaway brides seek asylum in an Italian family’s villa. Their hosts are unable to negotiate the moral predicament and allow the forced marriages, so the brides make a pact to kill their husbands on their wedding night.

“I am drawn to the play because it has the scale of a Greek tragedy, but it is dressed in the global culture of today,” said Gyllian Raby, director and associate professor in Dramatic Arts. “(Playwright Charles) Mee invites a wild post-modern performativity, but his story is so deeply sourced in western culture that it is very accessible.”

Karyn McCallum designed the set. The choreography is from Gemini-nominated director Allen Kaeja.

Performers are from the Dramatic Arts undergraduate performance concentration. They include Rebecca Durance-Hine, Jacqueline Costa, Sadie Isaak, Rob MacMenamin, Corey Mehlenbacher, Trevor Ketcheson, Jen Bender, Chris Boyle, Michael Pearson, Eric Frank, Dylan Mawson and Kasey Dunn.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and students.

Performances:
Thursday, Feb. 11 – 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 12 – 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 13 – 7:30 p.m.

To order tickets:
Centre for the Arts box office
905-688-5550 x3257
boxoffice@brocku.ca