The Highest Step in the World - A Stunning Production
From now until October 26, 2013, you can see David van Belle FLY in the Gateway Theatre. He tumbles and turns, floats and flaps, takes off and falls down. And who doesn't want to see that?
Courtesy of Ghost River Theatre from Calgary, The Highest Step In The World opens the Gateway's 2013-14 season. Artistic Director Jovanni Sy made a solid choice to bring this incredible production to the mainstage of the Gateway. It looks beautiful and the technical team has done a great job in getting everything working for opening night (apparently this show hasn't been staged in the past two years).
Why do I mention that? Well, this is a highly technical show. In addition to the one actor onstage, the show also credits:
- co-creator / director Eric Rose,
- set / costume / lighting designer Ami Farrow,
- projection designer Ben Chaisson,
- performance rigger / operator Adrian Young,
- performance rigger Chris MacPherson,
- animator / motion graphics designer Court Brinsead,
- production / tour manager Ann Connors,
- dramaturg Vicki Stroich,
- stage manager Joanne P.B. Smith, and
- assistant stage manager Lorilyn Parker.
According to the show notes, David van Belle and Eric Rose began creating The Highest Step in the World in 2006. When they heard of Captain Joseph Kittinger and his record-breaking leap, they were struck by two questions: what it would take in your soul to leap off at such an incredible height? And how could you begin to stage something so outrageous? As a devising company, Ghost River Theatre began to answer that question through a creation process that took a number of years. The show premiered in Calgary at the Alberta Theatre Projects' Enbridge PlayRites Festival in February 2010.
In this performance, we meet not only Captain Joseph Kittinger but also a number of others who have flown and fallen. We are invited to consider the risks that these individuals chose to take, why they did so and if we would do the same. Truthfully, the show is easy to explain and yet difficult too. There is not one plot but several woven together. Perhaps the most compelling is the central tale of Kittinger's famous helium balloon ride in 1960 when he went 31 kilometres above Earth and jumped to the ground. Yet as audience members, we are required to pay close attention to all the characters and find our own links between the stories told.
Days later, I am still thinking about taking risks, flying and falling. I say, take a chance on this one - you won't regret it. And if you don't believe me, have a look at the online video trailer.