A radical adaptation of one of the oldest surviving dramas in western literature – the Greek tragedy The Suppliant Maidens by Aeschylus – Mee’s Big Love is a stunningly fresh take on an age-old story: the battle of the sexes.

Set against the predicament of fifty sisters being forced to marry their fifty cousins, the play is a luscious, physically explosive exploration of love that yanks the classical tale firmly into contemporary prime time.

"Big Love is about the yearning for an all-consuming, everlasting love in the face of what appear to be impossible odds", director Buchli said. "It’s the vitality, passion and wild physicality that excite me most about this play – a physicality that is wonderfully realized through the work of choreographer Paula Thomson."

For Buchli, the play’s strength and appeal lies in its fearless emotional extremism. "Witnessing characters that embody emotions so large that they become inexpressible within the bounds of normal behaviour fascinates me", she said. "It’s a heightened expression of something most of us go through at some point in our lives."

Buchli is a former associate artist with Theatre Direct and former associate artistic director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company, Toronto, where she directed Mr. Nice Guy and co-created the Dora Award-winning plays Mein and Desire. Other directing credits include the Shaw Festival and Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille and Young People’s Theatre. She is also an accomplished filmmaker: her latest production, the Genie-nominated Foxy Lady, Wild Cherry, has won numerous awards and continues to be broadcast internationally. Buchli hold an MFA in directing from York University’s Theatre Department, where she teaches acting and directing.

Thomson’s career as a choreographer, movement coach and educator includes work with the Banff School of Fine Arts, Juilliard School of Music, Stratford Festival and Canadian Opera Company as well as York University’s Theatre Department, where she has taught movement for 25 years. A former artistic director and choreographer for Northern Lights Dance Theatre, she has also created dance premieres for Ballet Jorgen and Dance Works Co-Works.

Theatre @York productions showcase the talents of students in York University’s Department of Theatre. The cast for Big Love is drawn from the fourth-year Undergraduate Acting Ensemble. Set design is by Michelle Blore with lighting by Kalyna Conrad, costumes by Gillian Gallow and sound design by Ainslie Graham.

"Big Love" previews Sun. Nov. 2 and Mon. Nov. 3, opens Tues. Nov. 4 and runs through Sat. Nov. 8 in the Joseph G. Green Studio Theatre at York University, 4700 Keele Street. Showtime is 7:30 pm, with matinees Wed. Nov. 5 and Fri. Nov. 7 at 1:00 pm. Admission is $12/$8students & seniors/$5 group rate. Sun. preview pwyc, Mon. preview $5. Box Office: 416 736-5172 ext. 3.

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Media contact:

Brigitte Kleer
Public Relations, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
416 736 2100 ext. 77143
bkleer@yorku.ca