photo by Itai Erdal
How to Disappear Completely
by Itai Erdal in collaboration with James Long, Emelia Symington Fedy & Anita Rochon
In September of 2000, infamous lighting designer Itai Erdal received a phone call telling him his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and had nine months to live. Itai, a recent film-school graduate promptly moved back to Israel to spend every moment he could with his dying mother. During that time he shot hours of film and hundreds of pictures, documenting the final months of her life. In a starkly simple yet deeply profound new work, Erdal invites us into the surprising circumstances surrounding his mother’s passing. At the heart of this story is Mery Erdal’s vibrant personality, the strong bond she had with her son and the personal yet universal story of how she bravely lived her life and faced her imminent death.
The show premiered to great success at the Chutzpah! Festival in February 2011. It will re-mount in 2012 at The Shadbolt Centre for the Performing Arts in Burnaby and Factory Theatre in Toronto.
Created by:
- James Long – Director
- Itai Erdal – Performer, Lighting Designer
- Anita Rochon – Dramaturge
- Jaimie Nesbitt – Projection Designer
- Emelia Symington Fedy – Sound Designer
How to Disappear Completely is built to tour easily and is available from September 1, 2011 onward.
- 1 performer, 70 minutes
- Contact emelia[at]thechoptheatre.com for booking information
- Watch a preview
- Read reviews
“Through these charged memories we get the sense of being truly alive, of living life to its fullest. What could have been a dark show is driven in fact by light”.
-Marsha Ledererman, Globe and Mail