Prince George Hotel, 1725 Market Street
Zone 1, exhibit #101
www.brucewbarton.com/all-good-things
"It's based on a real-life experience of mine, a near-drowning in a lake on Manitoulin Island, where I was pulled from the water by a fisherman, and based on the complex, lingering ripples of that event for me and for my family," says writer/director Bruce Barton, of All Good Things, a dimly lit two-person impromptu conversation between a Nocturne participant and local Zuppa Theatre's Ben Stone.
Barton continues: "I've become increasing focused in all the work of my company Vertical City on intimacy between performers and audience members, and I wanted to explore a piece with sustained physical contact. The image of clasped hands in an unbroken embrace was the first kernel of the piece, as it brought these two sources of inspiration closely together. It's so rare that we actually touch one another, particularly strangers, and it requires a total commitment from the piece and from the performer."
Stone will call upon the audience to create an intimate narrative experience from fragments. "Ironically, the title references the old saying 'All good things must come to an end,'" Barton says, "Do with that as you will. But ultimately, I suppose, the piece is about the opportunities to learn about one's self, those grasped and those missed, at each stage of a life."
