With Halloween on the horizon, a Surrey theatre company is prepping a staged reading of one of the creepiest stories ever written.
Newton-based Pivot Theatre will present George Langelaan’s “The Fly” in a one-night-only reading Saturday, Oct. 28, an 8 p.m. start at Bethany-Newton United Church (14853 60 Ave.).
Actors Chuck Mayne, Kayt Roth, Barbie Warwick and Margaret Shearman will tell the tale of Francoise Delambre, who is called by her sister-in-law, Helene, saying she has killed Francoise’s brother, Andre, instructing her to call the police.
“What transpires is Francoise’s search for the truth, and the horror of Andre’s scientific pursuits,” noted Roth, Pivot’s second chair.
Event tickets are $20 for adults, or $15 for seniors and students, at the door or on ticketowl.io.
Founded in 2021, Pivot Theatre “celebrates our community’s diversity by presenting a wide range of content and shows,” says a post on pivottheatre.ca/about. “We welcome everyone to join us and explore the arts in a safer place.”
In July at Surrey Arts Centre, the company rep’d the Fraser Valley Zone during Theatre BC’s Mainstage 2023 festival with its acclaimed production of “Perfect Arrangement,” a play about gay couples posing straight at a dinner party.
With “The Fly,” Pivot revisits a science-fiction short story first published in the June 1957 issue of Playboy magazine, according to a post on Wikipedia.
A year later, it was turned into a movie starring David Hedison as André Delambre, Patricia Owens as Hélène Delambre and Vincent Price as François Delambre. In 1986, another film version of “The Fly” starred Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle (who fills the same role as André Delambre), Geena Davis as Veronica Quaife and John Getz as Stathis Borans.
For its winter show, Pivot will stage Kim Carney’s “Moonglow” next February. It’s the story of Maxine, a feisty, bitter Alzheimer’s patient who doesn’t want to move into a nursing facility. But when she meets Joe, a widower who shares her love for dance, her outlook begins to change.
Elsewhere in Newton, Naked Stage Productions Society will perform a staged reading of Lawrence Roman’s “Alone Together Again” Nov. 3-5 at Newton Cultural Centre.
Colleen McGoff Dean directs actors in a story set in the home of Helena and George Butler, who are looking forward to reconnecting with one each other now that their adult sons are finally out on their own.
“‘Alone Together Again’ offers a poignant look at relatable issues,” the director notes, including “older family members redefining who they are in a fast-paced changing world, married couples rediscovering how well they really know each other and relations who – in spite of their well-meaning intent to be helpful and supportive – can complicate one another’s lives. Through our incredibly talented actors, I hope you will laugh and empathize with these characters as I much as I have.”