If you don’t laugh, you might cry.
So says Opera on the Avalon’s Artistic Director Cheryl Hickman, delving into the heart of the promotion’s world premiere adaptation of Lisa Moore’s best-seller February, which earned rave reviews during its two-night stay at the Arts and Culture Centre in St. John’s this weekend.
Jumping between present day and the heartbreak of February 11, 1982 and the sinking of the Ocean Ranger, Hickman shared that the piece had taken four years to develop, and that, at its core, is one about community.
Opera On The Avalon – February
Hickman shared that the play centers on ways to find light in your life during the darkest moments, and it speaks on the good and bad qualities of what oil has brought to Newfoundland and Labrador.
She shares that the contrast between moments of comedy and tragedy is what makes the piece so powerful, adding that Moore’s writing offers moments of levity to counteract the bleak reality of the event, and that it was important to offer that contrast to theatregoers.
