Theatre Calgary

World premiere of the musical Beyond Eden

What is your favourite Winter Olympic sport?
I love watching men’s and women’s ice hockey. Their gold medal games are always so exciting. (Bruce Ruddell, writer and music composer of Beyond Eden)

Theatre Calgary, in association with Playhouse Theatre Company of Vancouver, has been selected to debut its world premiere of the musical Beyond Eden in Vancouver as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad. This full-scale musical production stars Canadian actor and musician John Mann of the group Spirit of the West.

“It is a huge moment of pride for Theatre Calgary to be involved with the Cultural Olympiad with our world premiere of a musical that is about Canadian Aboriginals in Western Canada,” said Theatre Calgary Artistic Director Dennis Garhum, who is also directing this production. “We hope that this pride is shared with the people of Calgary too.”
 
Written and composed by Bruce Ruddell, Beyond Eden is based on true events that occurred during a 1957 expedition to British Columbia’s remote North Pacific coast. A group of anthropologists and archaeologists, led by Wilson Duff and his Haida friend Bill Reid, travelled to the deserted village of Ninstints, which was once occupied by the Haida First Nations tribe on Queen Charlotte Island. As the expedition attempted to cut-down and remove ancient totem poles from the village, they triggered a series of events that would resonant their lives and the lives of the Haida people.

“This world-premiere is the culmination of a project that I’ve been developing for 20-years. This story never let go of me, and I couldn’t let go of the story,” said Bruce Ruddell. 

“Since Beyond Eden is about the West coast, and since all eyes are going to be on Vancouver, this is the perfect time to tell this story,” explained Garhum.

Bruce Ruddell is an accomplished music composer and has written many orchestra and choir pieces. Beyond Eden was first written as an opera, but after some initial performances, Ruddell decided to take this story back to the drawing board. “The opera is an older European craft that I felt didn’t quite fit for a story about Canadian Aboriginals. So, I decided to turn this into a musical play, which I feel is a little more contemporary,” explained Ruddell.

Beyond Eden has received full endorsements from both the Council of the Haida Nation and the Chiefs and Elders of Haida Gwaii. Derek Edenshaw and Gwaii Edenshaw acted as the official Haida Artistic Consultants and ensured the Haida culture was represented accurately. “I grew up on the BC coast, right across from the Haida settlements, and experienced much of their culture first-hand at a young age,” recalls Ruddell. “I’ve been consulting with them for many years, and the Haida people are very comfortable with the result of this play.”

The production staffs from Theatre Calgary and Playhouse Theatre Vancouver also visited the Queen Charlotte Islands to experience the Haida culture and people first-hand.

“We wanted to be inspired by the detail in Haida culture and history, so that we could provide audiences a true representation of this group,” said Garhum. “I feel very proud that this is one of the few productions at the 2010 Cultural Olympiad that informs the world of Canadian Aboriginal history and culture.”

For more information on Beyond Eden, consult Theatre Calgary’s website at http://www.theatrecalgary.com/

Photo Credit:
Theatre Calgary