Weird Tales‘ Editorial Director Stephen H. Segal tells SFScope that the magazine is “a media sponsor of the new play Without Whom, which is inspired by the life of Marguerite and Ray Bradbury.” The play is premiering this week at the Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival.
Written by Toronto playwright R.J. Downes, Without Whom “draws upon elements of the Bradburys’ lives to create the characters of Ray and Maggie Monarch, asking: ‘What happens when we leave this life? Does the world really go on without us? What if we could make death wait—even if only for a little while? Ray and Maggie were married for forty years, bickering and fighting, loving and sometimes hating. Now that one of them has passed on, how will the other go on alone? And more importantly: which one of them actually died?”
The inspiration for the play, Ray Bradbury and his wife Margeurite, had been married for half a century when she passed away in 2003. He is the author of such classics as The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. He is the recipient of the National Book Foundation’s 2000 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the National Medal of Arts in 2004, the SFWA Grand Master Award, the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award.
Without Whom is directed by Pat McCarthy and stars Anne Harper, John Illingworth, Irene Carl, and playwright R.J. Downes. During the festival, it is showing seven times at St. Vladimir’s Theatre (620 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Tickets are $10. For more information on the play, see tripletake.net.
The Fringe is “Toronto’s largest theatre festival. In 2008 it will host over 800 artists from Ontario, Canada, and around the world, with over 135 unique productions in more than 25 venues. Productions range from dramas to musical extravaganzas to improv and take place in local theatres as well as in unusual spots: playgrounds, parking lots and more. A KidsVenue hosts eight plays exclusively for children and families. The festival also hosts a beer tent, two outdoor patios, and a free nightly Cabaret. It is unjuried, unexpected, and unforgettable.”
Later this summer, Without Whom will also be featured at the Hamilton Fringe Festival (15-24 August) in Hamilton, Ontario.