Liberators, Occupiers and Population

World Premiere

From Berlin, Calgary and the Netherlands - Sixty years on, three modern theatre companies explore a defining moment in World War II in a unique collaboration.

Any Canadian traveller who has spent time in Holland knows that the Dutch hold a persistently high regard for our nation. The reason is that in the final year of WWII, some 7,000 Canadian soldiers lost their lives there in a series of large set-piece battles and vicious house-to-house fighting that was largely instrumental in liberating the country from Nazi occupation.

Now, three theatre companies - one Canadian, one Dutch and one German - mark the 60th anniversary of this turning point in their collective histories with a unique trans-Atlantic collaboration. Their rules of engagement: to create a triptych of short pieces, fused together into one tri-national work of theatre. Calgary's , Berlin's Hebbel am Ufer, and Het Huis van Bourgondië of Maastricht, Netherlands, will each present a section of the triptych, exploring the liberation from their own particular national viewpoint. One Yellow Rabbit's Blake Brooker will direct the Canadian portion; celebrated director Hans Werner Kroesinger will take the reins of the German section; and Feico Sobel, one of Holland's brightest young directors, leads the Dutch piece.

Last spring, the three-way dialogue began when hooked up with their European colleagues in a visit to Holland. The tour provided a first-hand look at battlefields, cemeteries and museums, encounters with Dutch veterans and historians, and a chance to view rare films of guerilla resistance from the era.

After the Rodeo, the full triptych will tour to Amsterdam, Berlin and Maastrict in May 2005, for the European premiere of this unprecedented examination of a key chapter in world history.

Jan 4 - 8, 2005 at The Big Secret Theatre, 7:30pm Nightly

Jan 4: Pay-What-You-Can
Jan 5: $20
Jan 6 - 8: $22

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