A local theatre group will soon be giving Yellowknife a welcome taste of one of music’s most beloved Southern Belle’s
Ptarmigan Ptheatrics, a non-profit group that works to promote musical theatre in the community, is getting ready to put on a performance of 9 to 5, a musical stage adaptation of the classic 1980 comedy starring Dolly Parton. The story is set in the 1970’s and focuses on three women who are looking to get some revenge on their sexist, egotistical, bigoted boss.
Katie Hall, who is directing the Ptarmigan’s production, said that the show gives audiences a look into the office culture of 1979, and how women were treated in that setting and time.
Despite being set over forty years in the past, Katie feels that the messages of the story are still relevant to today.
“Especially when you consider intersectionality in the workplace as well. The story doesn’t super explicitly touch on it, but I think that it’s still very prevalent in the writing and in the way that our cast kind of approaches it. We’re obviously in a very different wave of feminism now, but when the story was written back in the 70’s, they were looking at women through that wave of feminism era, and I think now, when we’re thinking about how we can treat women with respect in the workplace, there’s just so many more layers to it, and I think that’s why it kind of rings true today.”
Shaelah Buckley, one of the actors in the show, added on to that with her own inciteful interpretation of the story.
“I think we’ve chatted a bit in the space that, I think Dolly Parton’s work has always been like this, where there’s this idea of there’s no wrong way to be a woman, but no matter how you exist as a woman in this world, supporting other women is so important.”
Both Katie and Shaelah reported that rehearsals have been going well, and the cast feels very confident in putting on the performance.
The show will be held on Friday, April 26th at 7:30pm at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre. Tickets are available on the NACC website.
