We could all use Fur

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Venus in Fur isn’t just about sex. Trust us.

Venus in Fur isn’t just about sex. Trust us.

Venus in Fur comes to Regina

Article: Paige Kreutzwieser – Staff Writer

[dropcaps round=”no”]W[/dropcaps]ith huge commercial success on Broadway, The Golden Apple Theatre brings one of the hottest plays of the 2013-2014 season to Regina.

“It is viable,” explains Amy Matysio, lead actress of Venus in Fur. “It should be seen, it has a proven success.”

The combination of a Tony-nominated script by David Ises, award-winning Canadian director Jim Guedo, and actors Daniel Arnold and Matysio make for a must see performance at The Artesian.

“That equation should just add up to wanting to see what we made,” says Matysio.

In a play that revolves around the German novella Venus in Furs (by an author whose name inspired the term Masochism), Matysio’s role as Vanda Jordan demanded much physical confidence from the Saskatchewan actress.

“The show is so physical and so energetic. The show just starts and it doesn’t stop. It’s 90 minutes and it’s just go, go, go.”

Her “blacks” also required much confidence to wear. The costume itself was not something Matysio was used to.

“I am a pretty shy, conservative person in my daily world as far as Amy. I’m always wearing a lot of layers… So, literally to go from that to a very minimal amount of clothing and a lot of leather is different for me.”

In finding the right costume, Matysio had to visit numerous sex shops.

“They assumed it was for pleasure at home. I said it was for a costume and most of them knew of the play, and they all had a lot of knowledge of S and M. A lot of them would give me stories. And openly give me stories that I’m not sure I was prepared to hear,” laughed Matysio.

Matysio, who is currently living in Toronto, said the relationship between her and Arnold required a lot of light-heartedness and amusement.

“We had a lot of laughs to keep it light and funny. No one can make more jokes about what was going on up there than we did.”

But she admitted that at the end of the day it came down to getting the work done.

“You have to go to those [intimate] places to give the best performance you can give and to give the audience the truest representation of the play.”

Guedo also provided a lot of support for both Matysio and Arnold.

“He is such a phenomenal director at making his actors feel confident and comfortable and giving them the tools they need to go out there and do the best work they can do. Even if they are fully clothed or not.”

The play, which runs from March 5-22, brings a new edge to a rather sophisticated Regina crowd, but Matysio knows Regina is ready for a show like Venus in Fur.

“You’re still going to be blown away by the play, by the story, by these characters and it’s nothing that they aren’t seeing on television. My answer is Regina should want great theatre. And Regina is ready in that way that they are lucky to have [Venus in Fur].”

Tickets can be purchased for the play through The Golden Apple Theatre website, with shows running every night except Sundays and Mondays, starting at 8 p.m.

[button style=”e.g. solid, border” size=”e.g. small, medium, big” link=”” target=””]Image: Carey Shaw Photography[/button]

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