Giggling Iguana's Contribution to Horror in Victoria, B.C.

Although Halloween is over, the people of Victoria, BC will have another year to get ready for Giggling Iguana Productions’ next exciting piece, Dracula. Founder Ian Case will be partnering with Launch Pad Productions’ David Radford and Christina Patterson to tackle Bram Stoker’s seminal classic.

“They were both involved in my very first Iguana production ‘Charley's Aunt,’ and I've always enjoyed working with them,” says Case.

Giggling Iguana puts on a site-specific horror-themed theatre production every Halloween for everyone to enjoy. The company started in 1998 with Case, University of Victoria English and Theatre grad, at the helm. After some initial hiccups, he found working with friends and colleagues, whose work he admired, to be of a better fare. After some campaigning to the people managing Craigdarroch Castle, he was allowed to produce shows at this venue starting in 2000.

Case's success with shows like H.G. Well’s War of the Worlds, Dr. Faustus, Dorian Gray, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, soon made him well known. He is now the General Manager of Intrepid Theatre, who produces, to name a few, Victoria Fringe Festival and Uno Fest. To call the products he produces each Halloween as part of the Victoria institution is hardly an understatement.

“I suppose that's a fair assessment at this point,” says Case, “When we started the shows at the Castle no one was doing this kind of Halloween activity for a more mature audience. There was trick-or-treating, some haunted houses and partying but not much organized cultural activities. It's nice to see now that there is a real explosion of activity at this time of year. “

And the shows Giggling Iguana stage only gets better. “It seemed fitting to start our second decade of Halloween productions with the show that started it all, The Fall of the House of Usher,” says Case.

Those familiar with the melancholy tale by Edgar Allen Poe will find Case’s version faithful. His love for the genres that are explored every year is very apparent. Ian Case loves science fiction and the tale of terror. He says horror allows people to look at the dark side of humanity. “It is a side that we all have and need to splash around in from time to time,” says Case, “I think it's a healthy part of the psyche to have to look at that part of ourselves—sometimes to laugh at it and sometimes to really just take a look and recognize it.”

This year’s version of Usher is different than the original production. Case updated the script so there are new details to make this play even more chilling.

But true to the narrative, the tale starts outside, on a chilly night with an unnamed narrator (Tim Sutherland) arriving at the old Usher estate to tend to Roderick Usher (Rod Peter Jr.). He is as pale as a cold moonlight, and his sister, Madeline (Natasha Enquist), is as strange and fractured as the doll she carries. They move about like lord and lady, brother and sister, and perhaps, betrothed lovers something darker and lasting evermore? The thought is too ghastly to conceive, but this play hints at it. Case certainly knows his lore.

The performances are excellent and are sometimes even melodramatic. Peter, Sutherland, Enquist, and Case never break out of character as they guide audiences up and down the oak stairs. This play nearly uses all the levels of the castle and there is not a lot of sitting since the play moves about. As the show starts on the fourth floor, it will slowly descend, crawling down and probe deep into depths of meaning and symbolism. Audiences begin to understand Roderick’s affliction with the huffing and puffing going on. And while more detail can be garnished from Poe’s work, the theatrical treatment can still be interpreted.

The narrator’s own thrall towards the building also develops. Like an ocean wave, there are some high moments, where everyone has to ascend up the stairs again. But as it comes crashing, so must they descend. A great workout always happens with Giggling Iguana’s many productions and that has been a trademark of many of their plays staged at this castle. That’s much needed in order to tackle the cold nights of Victoria after the performance.

9/10

More information about Giggling Iguana's past shows can be found here:

The Giggling Iguana Website.

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Posted in: 2011,a night of horror,classic,horror,performance,theatre,theatre locations,theatrical