In the Artword Alternative Theatre, 75 Portland Street, Toronto ON January 30 to February 17, 2002 Portrait Productions presents Desdemona: A Play about a Handkerchief Written by: Paula Vogel Directed by: Sue Miner Associate Producers: Sarah Neville and Anita La Selva Starring: Brooke Johnson, Sarah Neville and Anita La Selva Set and Costume Design: Erin Haid Lighting design: Gareth Crew Opens: Jan 31 and runs to Feb 17 Show Times: Tuesday to Saturday 8 pm, Sun matinée 2:30 pm Ticket prices: Tuesday to Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2:30 pm Tickets: Preview $10; Tues to Thurs: $16; Fri. & Sat. $20; Sundays PWYC Students, Seniors and Equity Members: $2 rebate Artword Theatre Information Line: 416-408-2783
	Portrait Productions founded by Sarah Neville and Anita La Selva in 1999 produced Non-Sequitur by Elise Moore in the Toronto Fringe of 1999 to critical and popular sucess. Paula Vogel's Desdemona: A Play about a Handkerchief takes a classical story and turns it on its head by giving it a modern-day moral code. As the wrongly accused and suffering wife of Shakespeare's tragic Moor Othello, Desdemona has long been outfitted as the "victim of circumstance". But as Vogel demonstrates in this comic deconstruction of Shakespeare's play, Desdemona is hardly the quivering waif we've come to imagine. Vogel's play justaposes high comedy and tongue-in-cheek humour with modern-day questions: what were the roles women had to play then and still have to play now order to survive in a man's world. And how have woman evolved in attempting to exploring their sexuality without shame. The brilliance of this play lies in the way the controversial topic of female sexuality is presented. On the surface, the play appears to be a rollicking bawdy comedy. Underlying every scene is Vogel's genius at work, pushing us to witness the absurdity and real danger of the situation at hand: Desdemona will be murdered by a jealous husband in the end. In Shakespeare's story she is "chaste", in Vogel's she is "free", yet her tragic fate remains the same.