Spirit Fire Theatre

Pumphouse Theatres
2140 Pumphouse Ave SW, Calgary, AB

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place… With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.”
- John Steinbeck, Of Mice And Men

Of Mice And Men tells the story of two migrant farm workers who go in search of new pastures in the hope of attaining their shared dream: settling down on their own piece of land. The two men are no strangers to trouble and they soon find themselves reeling from the fallout of an innocent misunderstanding which spirals out of control, leaving the two men, bound together by friendship, to face an earth-shattering decision.

Of Mice And Men is one of the classic stories of the twentieth century, written and adapted for the stage by America’s greatest novelist, John Steinbeck.

“This is a Canadian Actors’ Equity Association production under the Artists’ Collective Policy.”

The Spirit Fire Theatre production of the John Steinbeck Depression Era classic Of Mice And Men is everything and perhaps even a little more that one could hope for from a production of this classic drama. Beautifully directed and acted with depth and sincerity, it is an emotionally gripping, heart wrenching evening of theatre. It certainly ripped at my heart and I was definitely not the only one wiping tears away as we left the Pumphouse’s Joyce Doolittle Theatre.

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE
FOUR STARS
- Louis Hobson, Columnist for the Calgary Sun

When David first mentioned his desire to produce John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, I recalled a production of Steinbeck’s play, The Grapes of Wrath, which I had the privilege to see in Stratford, Ontario, a few years ago. The production was tremendous, one of the most powerful pieces of theatre I had the good fortune to see. Although I was not familiar with Of Mice and Men, I knew that Steinbeck was capable of both exceptional storytelling and incredible character relationships. I was intrigued.

Suffice it to say, Steinbeck did not disappoint. His script is rich and nuanced, hilarious and heartbreaking, and both of a time and universal – a classic, and with good reason. There is so much to explore, so many ways our own personal artistry can express itself through Steinbeck’s words and characters – and this excites me. Brotherhood, companionship, survival, and the American dream are some of the more prominent elements of the play, but I am also intrigued by the notion of the singular vs. the group, of how scary and dangerous it can be to follow your heart and to love, our need for validation and purpose, and how prejudices, expectations, and circumstance can ignite a mob into action. How often do we see these things today?

We live in an era where we are more connected and isolated than ever. I have witnessed the mob mentality, calling for the public lynch, show up almost daily on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. There have even been several high profile cases: Justine Sacco, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at IAC, sent what she thought was an amusing tweet to her 170 Twitter followers before getting on a plane to South Africa. When she landed and turned on her phone, she was the #1 trending topic on Twitter, unemployed, and socially rejected. In a heartbeat, her world changed – she went from belonging to painful exclusion – because we reacted.

While this may not immediately come to mind when you think of Of Mice and Men, there are elements of this – among many others – at play, which is one of the reasons why I feel it important to revisit this work here and now.

I cannot wait to see where we land.