The Big Smoke at Factory Studio Theatre

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

Theatre Ad Infinitum Canada’s Amy Nostbakken nominated for the 2011 Manchester Theatre Award and listed in the Best of the Best 2011 in U.K.’s ThePublicReviews for  THE BIG SMOKE

A poetic waltz with death inspired by the lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton

The U.K.’s Manchester Theatre Awards have recognized some of the biggest names in British and international theatre as well as some of the newest, and are the largest awards for theatrical achievement outside London, England. Theatre Ad Infinitum’s Amy Nostbakken who, in association with Why Not Theatre, brings the Canadian premiere of The Big Smoke to Factory Studio Theatre (February 21-March 4), has recently been nominated for “Best Studio Performance” for her compelling solo performance in the very same show.

As well, thepublicreviews.com, the largest dedicated theatre review website in the UK, recently named The Big Smoke one of the “Best of the Best of 2011” proclaiming it “An extraordinary one woman performance Š The Big Smoke is possibly one of the finest, most challenging and memorable productions I have seen not just this year but in all my many theatre going years.”

Inspired by the lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, this poetic waltz with death walks a fine line between sanity and psychosis and is co-written by Nostbakken and director Nir Paldi.

In a courageous physical performance with a completely original text and score sung a cappella, Amy Nostbakken’s nuanced voice tells the story of a brilliant young artist from Toronto given the opportunity of a lifetime: a solo exhibit at London’s Tate Modern. Nathalie has everything to live for: good looks, talent, a loving family, amazing scholarships and a career just waiting to take off. But just as she is rising to the heights of her potential, she begins to spiral down into the depths of depression. Through swanky gallery parties and grim pub toilets, ex-boyfriends and meddling aunts, mauled dogs and crashed cyclists, her descent into madness unfolds.

Critical Praise for The Big Smoke:

“I was convinced I’d seen something special: a one-woman play about the sudden onset of depression, and a story delivered entirely in song. I was captivated for an hour by Amy Nostbakken’s warbled narrative, and clapped and whooped accordingly at the endŠ This play was excellent.”                                       – Tom Lamont, The Observer (The Guardian, UK)

 “* * * * Last Fringe, Theatre Ad Infinitum wowed us with its epic one-man show, Odyssey… Well they’ve done it again, this time with female actor Amy Nostbakken.”                 

– Kelly Apter, The Scotsman (UK)

“I was pinned to my seat by Amy Nostbakken’s a cappella performanceŠ. A brave and devastatingly effective formŠ”

– Bella Todd, The Arts Desk (UK. Todd also writes for The Guardian)

 “* * * * * ‘This performance left me transfixed, overwhelmed and weeping. Utterly stunning”

– Miranda Fay Thomas, What’sOnStage.com (UK)

“* * * * This is no ordinary one woman play, but a mini opera, an aria, a narrative poem performed a cappellaŠ. a fresh, inventive, challenging piece of musical theatre, performed with imagination and genuine insight.”

 – EdinburghGuide.com

“I search for the words to describe it as it takes such an extraordinary form – a riveting melange of in-character monologue, storytelling, torch song, performance poetry, and experimental vocal scoreŠ ultimately we are held by the extraordinary performance skills of Amy Nostbakken.”

– Dorothy Max Prior, Total Theatre Magazine (UK)

Amy Nostbakken (co-writer, composer, performer The Big Smoke) is a writer, performer and musician based in Canada whose credits include Theatre Ad Infinitum’s First Class, a play she wrote and performed in which met with great success at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and productions with the UK’s Pleasance Theatre and Young Vic, among others. She trained for two years at the École Internationale de Théatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris 2007 and graduated from Concordia University in Montréal with a degree in Theatre Studies in 2005. She launches Theatre Ad Infinitum Canada with The Big Smoke which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010, receiving immense critical acclaim. She recently concluded a three-month national tour with it throughout the UK including The Lowry, Theatre Royal Bath, North Wall, and Norden Farm. It won an Argus Angel Award at the 2011 Brighton Festival Fringe, and Nostbakken was nominated for Best Female Performer by Brighton’s Latest 7 magazine.

Theatre Ad Infinitum is a Lecoq-trained international ensemble based in London led by Artistic Directors Nir Paldi (Israel) and George Mann (UK) who brought their acclaimed Odyssey to Toronto in January of 2011. The company’s numerous awards and recognitions in 2011 alone include: The Argus Angel Award, the Edinburgh Fringe Review ‘Outstanding Theatre Award,’ The Observer’s Alternative Iron Man Award, the Brave New World Award at the MESS International Theatre Festival in Sarajevo and the Best Theatre Direction Award at ACT Festival, Bilbao, Spain. www.theatreadinfinitum.co.uk

Theatre Ad Infinitum Canada, in association with Why Not Theatre, presents  the Canadian premiere of THE BIG SMOKE

An award-winning, one-woman a capella performance  written by performer Amy Nostbakken and director Nir Paldi

Opens February 22 and runs to March 4, 2012 (preview February 21)  at Factory Studio Theatre, 125 Bathurst Street

Tuesday to Saturday at 8 PM; Sunday at 2:30 PM.

Tickets: Tuesday-Saturday $25 (Student/Senior $18), Sunday Pay-What-You-Can (suggested donation $15)

Tickets are available through Factory Theatre Box Office at 416 504-9971 or on-line at factorytheatre.ca