For the first instalment of their 2018 playreading series, Matchstick Theatre presents Michael Melski’s Joyride on Monday, February 12th at The Bus Stop Theatre Co-op.
Joyride, the play that launched the celebrated Cape Breton playwright’s career, was first performed at the Atlantic Fringe Festival in 1994. It is a reflection of post-industrial Cape Breton, a setting that is recognizable today. As the author describes it:
“Most of our old friends had moved off the island for work. Nothing new in that, but the young faces that were hanging out…seemed strange to me. There was something a little scared, a little desperate that kept occurring in the eyes. It was two years after the McDonald’s murders. But the wake wasn’t over. Maybe it never will be.”
In the play we meet Rachel, earning minimum wage as a convenience store clerk, Jess, working for his father’s seasonal landscaping business, and Craig, home on probation and unemployed. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, the three friends get caught up in a whirlwind.
A masterful hour of Nova Scotian dialogue, Matchstick Theatre’s reading of Michael Melski’s Joyride features Kya Mosey as Rachel, Henricus Gielis as Jess, and Taylor Olson as Craig, with stage directions read by Chelsea Dickie.
The doors for the reading will be open as of 6:30, and the reading will begin promptly at 7:00pm. Admission is Pay What You Can at the door, in support of both Matchstick Theatre and The Bus Stop Theatre Co-op.
