Skip to content

Original play hits the boards in Iqaluit

0306atn&4_sm
Paradise in Purgatory, a two-hander featuring Azreer Gill, Left, as Gerald Jesup and Murielle Jassinthe as The Gatekeeper, was written and directed by Matthew Illaszewicz. The play is on May 31 to June 2 at Inuksuk High School. Michele LeTourneau/NNSL photo

The weekend sees Iqaluit Community Theatre present an original play at Inuksuk High School’s Tisi stage.

Matthew Illaszewicz wrote and directed Paradise in Purgatory, a two-hander featuring Azreer Gill as Gerald Jesup and Murielle Jassinthe as The Gatekeeper.

Paradise in Purgatory, a two-hander featuring Azreer Gill, left, as Gerald Jesup and Murielle Jassinthe as The Gatekeeper, was written and directed by Matthew Illaszewicz. The play runs May 31 to June 2 at Inuksuk High School.
Michele LeTourneau/NNSL photo

“While attending Carleton University in Ottawa, I saw David Lynch’s film Lost Highway. During the night I dreamt of the Mystery Man in the film and that inspired this play,” said Illaszewicz.

“I got close to putting it into production during my final year at Carleton, but that fell through and I needed to graduate so I postponed it until now, 19 years later.”

The play is about Jesup, a man trapped in purgatory, and his interactions with an uncooperative Gatekeeper, who foils his attempts to leave.

Paradise in Purgatory is Illaszewicz’s directorial debut and the second play he’s written. He previously acted in Iqaluit Community Theatre’s production The Clock Struck One and You Can’t Take it With You.

Gill previously acted in You Can’t Take It with You. Jassinthe was president of Iqaluit’s Theatre Uiviit in Iqaluit from 2015 to 2018. Assistant director Travis Burke acted in The Clock Struck One and You Can’t Take it With You.

The play runs 45 minutes, without an intermission, May 31 at 8 p.m., June 1 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and June 2 at 2 p.m. Admission is $10, cash only.