VENUS
by SUZAN-LORI PARKS

In her shocking and provocative Obie Award-winning play Venus, playwright Suzan-Lori Parks has used historical records, transcripts, and imagination to recreate a horrific episode from the past. Parks has traced the path of a young South African girl, Saartjie Baartman (Yetide Badaki), who is brought to England and transforms into the star attraction in a traveling freak show run by a malevolent ringleader know only as The Mother-Showman (Rachel Horton). Now called the Venus Hottentot, Saartjie grows in notoriety throughout Europe, eventually setting off a heated debate as to whether or not she was a willing performer or a slave. The Venus eventually becomes the property of a brilliant anatomist known as the Baron Docteur (Neil Napier) and they begin a torrid love affair which ultimately leaves her sick and abandoned. She finally dies, only to be dissected by the very man who loved her.

Venus is a play incorporates several elements: the rise and fall of a tragic and flawed hero, a political and ethical debate about the issue of slavery, an epic love story between two people who weren't meant to be together, and a biting and hysterical satire of the European preoccupation with all things African. As the inaugural production of the newly formed The Alternate Theatre, Venus promises to be a wholly original, visually stunning, and deeply touching theatre production. Directed by longtime Players' Theatre member Kareem Fahmy (Lion in the Streets) and innovatively designed by Mike Wozniewski and Kate Hahnen, Venus is unlike any play seen in Montreal before.