Friends

Playwright: Kobo Abe, translated by Donald Keene
Director: Michael E. Hughes
Students: First Studio, Year Two Group One

Friends is a dark comedy by absurdist Japanese playwright Kobo Abe, known for his modern sensibilities and existentialist surrealism. This tense drama touches upon the struggles of an individual to maintain his integrity and sense of identity despite a nightmarish intrusion upon his life. A family enters the apartment of a young man. Without invitation or introduction, they announce they have come to save him from his loneliness by living with him and being his friends. Shocked by this strange invasion, he tries to persuade them to leave, but reason proves useless against their cheerful madness. Under the relentless pressure of seemingly “neighbourly love”, the man strives to escape this preposterous house arrest.

Times

Performance Dates: Wednesday September 21st to Saturday September 24th
8:00 p.m.

Cast

Jasmine Mrenica – Middle Daughter
Sarah Lotfi Frooshani – Eldest Daughter
Milly Tchang-Leith – Youngest Daughter; Middle Aged Police
Theo Guy – Grandfather; Reporter
Maria Digout – Mother
André Morris-Mowatt – Father
Lion Arar – Youngest Son
Ian Zentner – Elder Son
Nicolas Ouellet – Man
Chloé Bilodeau – Reporter; Grandmother
Dawn Gleeson-Roy Middle Aged Police; Youngest Daughter
Amy Topolovec – Young Police; Fiancée
Hana Kashaf – Fiancée; Young Police