00 Hustle brings cyberpunk to St. Tim’s stage – Cochrane Times

The drama class at St. Tim's is taking a different approach with their spring performance, bringing a student led production to the stage that was worked out between them using different movies to create the cyberpunk 00 Hustle premiering Tuesday May 2.

The basic premise sets 00 Hustle in a peaceful future run by a government that has, for the most part, pacified the populace to the point that they are now called Drones.

They are told they're happy so they're happy, said Shayla Bryant, who plays Jane Bond, a former government agent who left for a less controlled existence only to be reeled back in for a mission to find Ruby Goldberg, a psychotic scientist exiled by the government and now living in the underground society of the Scraps.

From this point the students tell a story of sociological conflict that questions which side is right, or at the very least less wrong, in deciding how a society should be run.

The question is is the government really that bad since it's peaceful, said Bryant, with Ruby's actress Ashlee Rocliffe jumping in to point out the Drones exist without freedom of thought.

If people come in with a clear mind it will make it so much more interesting, added Rocliffe, adding that they all really enjoyed the process of creating a unique story with undertones from so many disparate films.

There's Demolition Man, Inside Out and Batman, said Rocliffe, as well as other films, more Shakespeare than you would expect from a student play and enough swing music and dancing to make up their fight scenes.

It was different because we didn't know where we were going to get to and kept writing, said Rocliffe as everyone wrote different scenes, back stories and characters that got shifted around constantly until their teacher, Kevin McGregor came up with a good ending and they were able to slip everything into place.

For us, it's the experimental learning we get through the program that we enjoy, said Bryant, with the students coming up with quirks for their characters, tragic origins for seemingly one dimensional characters and a couple twists they really hope will take the audience by surprise.

We wanted something new and something [audiences] haven't seen before, said Rocliffe, something they would have accomplished if they stuck with James Bond in a cryber/steampunk world but that promises to be a memorable experience by putting in the effort to make it something that will stick with people after the curtains close.

After doing a show for the kids at Holy Spirit, 00 Hustle will open at 7 p.m. Tuesday May 2 at St. Tim's school and have their final call Friday night. Tickets are available for $10 at the school for the first two shows since they will be serving tacos on Tuesday and wine and presecco on Wednesday, but they will be available at the door for the Thursday and Friday shows.

Dfeil@postmedia.com

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00 Hustle brings cyberpunk to St. Tim's stage - Cochrane Times