Latest news with #VertigoTheatre
Calgary Herald
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Review: Vertigo solves complex mystery of Da Vinci Code with technical wizardry
Article content It's all the technical wizardry Vertigo Theatre brings to its production of The Da Vinci Code that makes it such a compelling experience. Article content The adaptation of Dan Brown's 2003 bestselling novel is decidedly cinematic. The action jumps from the Louvre in Paris to several churches, an estate and even an airplane, but more importantly, the audience must see such Leonardo Da Vinci masterpieces as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Just hearing that these famous works contain symbols to prove Christ and Mary Magdalene had at least one child is not enough. We have to see these hidden symbols, and enlarged, if possible. Article content Article content That's what Andy Moro's projections do for us. They also help move us from one location to another, working so seamlessly with Anton DeGroot's ingenious set design. Director Simon Mallett makes certain there is true theatricality in the movement from one location to another. In keeping with the religious themes of the story, he has his actors dressed in monks' habits, but it also disguises who they are. It's so well thought out, as is everything about Mallett's staging. Article content Article content The play opens with the murder of Jacques Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre. Before he dies, he manages to write, in his own blood, a message for his granddaughter Sophie Neveu and famous American symbologist Robert Langdon. It's this message and the staging of his body that sets them, and the audience, on a quest for the Holy Grail. Article content They are not the only ones. Two religious groups are also in pursuit. There is the Priority of Sion, who have been protecting the bloodline of Christ, and Opus Dei, who have vowed to destroy any evidence of Christ's humanity. There is also Inspector Fache, who is convinced it was Langdon who murdered Sauniere and is tracking him and Sophie. Article content Article content Article content The whole setup is convoluted and complicated, much better suited for a novel or a film, but Mallett, his designers, and actors do their best to create a fun house, theme park ride for the audience. Article content As Langdon, Graham Percy is the ideal tour guide. His confusion is ours, and Percy makes Langdon the quintessential everyman. There are a couple of great running jokes, including Langdon's claustrophobia and the fact that he seems to have given a lecture on everything they encounter along the way. Like his suit, Percy's Langdon has seen better days. Article content Isabelle Pedersen gives Sophie an edge that saves her from ever being the damsel in distress. Unfortunately, for the first 20 minutes of the play, Pedersen shouts rather than speaks her lines. When she eases into the role, Pedersen takes control of the action as she is intended to. It's not her fault that the end of the play and the great revelations are dismissed so easily and quickly. The playwrights didn't give her much to work with.
CTV News
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Vertigo Theatre looks to audiences to crack The Da Vinci Code in theatrical adaptation of Dan Brown bestseller
Vertigo Theatre is presenting the stage adaptation of the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code through June 8 (Photo courtesy Vertigo Theatre)
Calgary Herald
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Preview: No nerves for actor portraying prominent Tom Hanks character in The Da Vinci Code
Article content Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code has sold more than 80 million copies and been translated into 44 languages. The 2006 film version, starring Tom Hanks as symbologist Robert Langdon, grossed $760 million and spawned two sequels. Article content The success of the novel and film is like a sword of Damocles hanging over Graham Percy's head as he is playing the main character in Vertigo Theatre's stage version that runs until June 8. Article content Article content 'Initially, I was very intimidated, but the script for the play is quite different than the film. In the play, Robert is way more flawed. He's a rumpled, faded guy, and I can play that. I'm not the matinee idol kind of guy that Tom Hanks is. There isn't the romance that was in the film. You won't have the audience asking how a young girl could be attracted to this rumpled old professor. It is our shared interest in signs and symbols that creates a kind of chemistry between us,' says Percy. Article content Article content The Da Vinci Code created quite a bit of controversy when it was released. It is purported that Christ and Mary Magdalene were lovers and that they had at least one child, and Langdon and Sophie Neveu are in search of this bloodline. Article content 'I had already read the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, so I was aware of the premise of Brown's novel. I was really entranced by the whole concept. In its day, it was a real conspiracy theory. It really opened a can of worms. People thought Brown's novel was nonfiction. There are people who still do. Article content 'It's been a good 20 years since the book and the film were so popular. We're hoping people will have forgotten enough of the details that they will join us in the search, and they will be as surprised as Sophie and I are by what we discover along the way.' Article content In the story, Sophie is a cryptologist and Robert is a symbologist. Article content 'There is no such thing as a symbologist. It's something Brown made up. It means that Robert is a specialist in symbols, but, as he says, what you see in the symbol is what it means, so it doesn't make him much of an expert, but it sounds good.' Article content Graham says there are two mysteries the audience has to solve in Vertigo's The Da Vinci Code. Article content 'There is this whole thing about the Holy Grail, or the bloodline of Christ, and then there is also the whole thing about Sophie. Who is she? What broke the relationship between her and her family? Was it because of her that her grandfather was murdered?' Article content As with the film, Robert and Sophie's quest takes them to some very exotic places, including the Louvre Museum in Paris, and to view some great artworks that Robert must interpret for their symbols. This requires a great deal of projections, as designed by Andy Moro.
