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There’s a vast and amorphous space between the idea for a play and its execution. Theatre art is the wiggly drawstring that pulls it all together.

Or at least that’s one way to describe the new and fantastical work of Edmonton’s Christine Lesiak (The Space Between Stars, For Science!) and Vancouver’s Tara Travis (Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Who Killed Gertrude Crump?) The two are the creators and performers behind The Spinsters, a new one-act play directed by Jan Selman and appearing Jan. 16-27 at the Fringe Theatre Arts Barns (10330 84 Ave.)

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Friends who met when they both had shows on the Fringe circuit more than a decade ago, Lesiak and Travis had always wanted to work together. Neither had a specific notion of how that would happen until Lesiak’s artistic collaborator and partner Ian Walker mentioned an image of the two friends that came into his mind during a walk from the beer tent at the Edmonton Fringe in 2017. It was of Lesiak and Travis strolling side by side, wearing long and trailing ball gowns that seemed to float above the ground.

Great image, sure, but what did it mean? It took another couple of years to find a matching fable for the frocks, but in the end, Lesiak and Travis revisited — and reclaimed —the story of Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters.

“We are both tall, awkward women,” says Lesiak. “And as youths, we said we identified more with the stepsisters than we ever did with Cinderella.”

They decided to deconstruct the stepsisters’ vapid and villainous stereotype and put the two characters — named Atrocia and Tormentia — at the center of the action. The result is a high-camp tale that portrays the stepsisters as single women in their fifties who host a sumptuous ball with a surprising outcome. Plans are derailed and secrets revealled.

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“We really wanted to approach this through the lens of empathy for these characters. What made them ‘ugly’ in the sense of the traditional story?” says Lesiak. “They’re portrayed as either too tall or short, too skinny or fat, too loud or quiet — they’re always too something.”

While hatched at the Fringe and inspired by the festival’s messy glory and exuberant spirit, The Spinsters was too technically complex for a festival venue. Previous Fringe outings by Walker and Lesiak, such as the sell-out hit For Science! have favoured simple concepts with sets that can be put up in 15 minutes.

The Spinsters has proved anything but simple: it took a team of 20 artists, including a puppeteer, wigmaker and choreographer to execute Walker’s early vision of the floating ball gowns. Most Fringe shows have budgets of a few thousand dollars; The Spinsters’ budget for artistic labour alone for its 2023 premiere in Burnaby and the upcoming Edmonton run was $70,000.

Lesiak says The Spinsters was made possible through grants and residencies from arts groups including Edmonton Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. The Westbury Family Fringe Theatre Award of $25,000 was “a game changer,” enabling the show to appear on the Westbury stage in the Arts Barns as part of Fringe Theatre’s 2023/24 season.

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It feels like a long way from the beer tent in 2017 to the show’s debut in Edmonton next week. But Lesiak, who began her working life as a physics researcher before completing a master’s degree in theatre practice at the University of Alberta, is used to a winding road.

“Inspiration comes from many different places,” says Lesiak. “I’m always interested in the question of whether it’s been done before, and then it becomes, ‘Is it possible?’ That’s where the scientist in me comes out. It’s the same spirit of inquiry for me with science and with art.”

For further information and tickets ($25) for The Spinsters, visit fringetheatre.ca. The show is not recommended for people under the age of 14.

Cosmic comedy

Catch Donna Orbits the Moon from Jan. 19 until Feb. 3 at Studio Theatre in the Fringe Theatre Arts Barns, 10330 84 Ave. The Northern Light Theatre production, written by Ian August and directed by Trevor Schmidt, stars Pat Darbasie as a wife and mother with a puzzling preoccupation. Tickets start at $20 and are available at northernlighttheatre.com.

Award-winner returns

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Shadow Theatre’s production of The Drawer Boy opens Jan. 17 and runs through Feb. 4 at the Varscona Theatre, 10329 83 Ave.

Directed by John Hudson, the Canadian classic by Michael Healey stars Reed McColm, Glenn Nelson and Paul-Ford Manguelle. Winner of the 1999 Governor General’s Literary Award, the play tells the story of two farmers who meet a young actor from the city who wants to research rural life. Tickets are available starting at $28 from shadowtheatre.org.

Whimsical audience participation

This is the Story of the Child Ruled by Fear opens at Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre on Jan. 31 and runs until Feb. 4 at The Gateway, 8529 Gateway Blvd. The play by David Gagnon Walker is directed by Heather Inglis and has been described as a whimsical fable. Volunteer audience members equipped with scripts, lamps and tables help tell the story along with the playwright. Tickets start at $32 through workshopwest.org.

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