The play, 52 Pick Up is a piece where anything can happen, depending on which card is drawn.
Written by Canadian playwrights, Rita Bozi and TJ Dawe, the play explores first love.
“It’s about a couple and their relationship and the entirety of their relationship is (written) on 52 playing cards and at the beginning of the play they toss them into the air and then the play plays out how they pick up the cards so each performance is unique,” said Bonnie Gratz, director and artistic director of New Vintage Theatre.
The challenge of memorizing the 52 scenes was no easy feat, the two actors learned the play in sequence then asked random people to pick a card. They would then act out the scene written on the card.
“Whenever I pull a card it definitely affects what I am reading, especially with the scene before and it plays into how I read the card but it affects how I feel at that moment,” said Aly Rothery, who was cast as ‘Woman’ in the play.
One of the challenges posed to the characters in the play as they retell the story of their love is the fact that it is their first romance.
“He’s kind of to himself more so not as open as the other character,” said Josh Richardson, cast as ‘Man’ in the play.
“This is one of his first loves and definitely the most different that he has had.”
“She has to register that she has to be working with someone else in the relationship and it’s not just her now. And that someone else influences her and affects her,” said Rothery.
The play is the first of three New Vintage Theatre will present this summer, all centred around love.
“Everybody has that basic need for love and to connect with another human being,” said Gratz.
“This particular play what made it really special is it’s about that first relationship that a couple has the first time they really feel they are in love and that they really want to be together. As a director, I have constantly told them to return to that moment where they really know that they need that person in their life.”
The play will run every evening until Saturday, July 13. Tickets are available at www.selectyourtickets.com
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