Ellen Arrand
& Clayton Jevne

Kate is retreating into fantasy. Phillip is fantasizing retreat. And together they must trouble-shoot both a marriage and a five-month international tour of Phillip’s one-actor version of Hamlet. Ellen Arrand’s Bear Me Stiffly Up looks at the after effects of the thrilling closeness and dazzling disappointment of “almost famous” and the struggles of soldiering on in spite of it all. One-Man Hamlet, adapted and performed for twenty years by Clayton Jevne, is the play that almost took him there and which critics deemed “ingenious,” “amazing,” “moving,” and “hilarious.” Premiering at Theatre Inconnu’s new theatre in Victoria’s Fernwood area, Bear Me Stiffly Up is an extraordinary theatric collaboration.

Ellen Arrand is a published novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She lives in Victoria with her husband, mother, and cat. She completed her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph Humber in Toronto in 2009. Bear Me Stiffly Up was first written about eight years ago. Since then it has gone through many versions and lots of helping hands. The opening monologue was one of four winners in Grain Magazine’s 2005 International Monologue Contest.

Clayton Jevne has been at the helm of Theatre Inconnu since 1978. Aside from serving as actor, director, or designer for more than 80 Inconnu shows, he has logged close to 1000 performances of solo shows in North America and Europe. He is currently on faculty in the Theatre Department at the University of Victoria. Clayton holds a PhD in actor-training research, an MFA in directing, and a BFA in acting.