TORONTO, March 24, 1998 -- Theatre @ York presents Timberlake Wertenbaker's contemporary Greek tragedy The Love of the Nightingale, opening March 30 at York University.

Based on Sophocles' lost play Tereus, The Love of the Nightingale is a searing drama about the brutality resulting from enforced silence.

An explosive mixture of ethics, politics and feminism, the play takes an uncompromising look at the issue of voice and power: who speaks, and for whom; who is heard and who is silenced.

As director Sarah Armstrong points out, it is a play for all times and all people.

"Like the characters in the play, we are all looking for a voice", says Armstrong. "And we need to find the courage to ask the tough questions".

Armstrong's recent professional credits include assistant director of the 1997 Canadian Stage production of the House of Martin Guerre, and assistant to director Trevor Nunn for Sunset Boulevard and director Frank Galati for the workshop production of Ragtime, produced by Livent. She is currently completing a graduate degree in the directing program in theatre at York University.

In The Love of the Nightingale, Armstrong directs a cast drawn from the Theatre Department's third-year undergraduate and first-year graduate Acting Ensembles. Set, costume and lighting design are by fourth-year production students in the theatre program.

The Love of the Nightingale opens Monday, March 30 and runs in repertory with Theatre @ York's premiere of Jorge Diaz' The Toothbrush till April 3. Shows are March 30, April 1 and April 3 at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee Fri. April 3 at 1:00 p.m. Performances take place in the Joseph G. Green Studio Theatre in the Centre for Film and Theatre, York University, 4700 Keele St. at Steeles Ave. Admission is $10, students/seniors $7, group rate $5. Box office: 736-5157. For more information, please call the Department of Theatre, 736-5172 #3.

Contact:
Brigitte Kleer
Public Relations, Faculty of Fine Arts
tel. 736-2100, ext. 77143
email: bkleer@yorku.ca