United Players’ Democracy goes to the Playhouse February 7, 2007

After a highly successful run at the Jericho Arts Centre last summer, United Players of Vancouver Theatre Company has decided to take their production of Michael Frayn’s Democracy to the Vancouver Playhouse.

Directed by Adam Henderson, this United Players production received great critical acclaim and was a huge hit with the Jericho Arts Centre audience.

Many who saw the production last June, said it was as good as anything they had seen anywhere, even London and New York. The critics also heaped praise:

“…a fascinating, funny, utterly entertaining evening of intelligent theatre… A clear, fast-paced production brought to us by this Little Company That Could.” (Jerry Wasserman, Vancouver Province)

“This is one of the best shows you’ll see this year.” Colin Thomas, Georgia Straight

“Adam Henderson, who did a stellar job with last season’s United Players production of Democracy, ....” Peter Birnie, The Vancouver Sun

“..... I urge you to see Democracy. It’s an excellent production of an elegantly structured intelligent script” Jo Ledingham, The Vancouver Courier

This decision finds United Players, described as “the little company that could”, venturing forth yet again into new territory. “This is a great venture for United Players”, artistic director Andree Karas told Democracy’s enthusiastic cast and crew, “and a bit of a scary one. But, as you know, United Players loves a challenge and we felt that this terrific production deserved to be seen by a greater Vancouver audience.”

Background:

Democracy is set in West Germany in the early 1970. It is popular belief in the US that Ronald Reagan was responsible for the fall of the Soviet Bloc because he made the arms race too expensive to keep up with. I believe the shift that ended the cold war is more complex, and that Willy Brandt and a spy called Gunter Guillaume deserve more of the credit.

While America was suffering the embarrassment of Nixon’s criminality, Willy Brandt, was doing his best to reunify his country, divided since the end of WWII. Brandt had been the Mayor of West Berlin in the 60s when the wall went up around it, and the iron curtain fell across Europe. He dreamed of reuniting his fractured country.
The West German Federal Government had gone through many crises and scandals since the end of the Second World War. Many of its officers were implicated in the crimes of the past, or were working for East German intelligence. The nationalistic right seemed to be resurgent and the electorate was nostalgic for past glories. But while East Germany turned totalitarian, the West German Federal Republic proved stable and even survived a total dependence on coalition government.

The usual coalition was between the conservative Christian Democrats and the FDP, Free Democratic Party (a.k.a. the Liberals). In 1966, coalition politics turned bizarre when the so-called grand coalition was formed, joining the conservative Christian Democrats and their traditional antagonist the left-wing SPD, Social Democratic Party led by Willie Brandt. Brandt, with his charm, fluency in foreign languages and impeccable past made a natural foreign minister. In 1969, Brandt’s SPD won enough seats to secure a slim majority in the Bundestag by going into a surprise coalition with the Liberals, squeezing the conservative Christian Democrats out of government. Suddenly, Germany had its first left leaning leadership since Hitler had used the fear of communism to manipulate the Nazis into power.
That is where the play begins.

Democracy will run at the Vancouver Playhouse from February 7 - 10, 2007.

Wednesday, Feb 7 is the REHEARSAL night: limited seating ~ have advance tickets ~ arrive early

Official Website: http://www.unitedplayers.com/