Alumni-directed and designed production of Paradise Lost takes the Mainstage
The Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge is preparing to showcase its first signature event for 2025, the Mainstage production of Paradise Lost by Erin Shields.
Paradise Lost by Erin Shields, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award, is a feminist adaptation of the classic English poem by John Milton from 1667. Paradise Lost is a funny, poignant and philosophically rich exploration of the consequences of free will.
This exciting show is directed by alumna Jamie Dunsdon (BFA - Dramatic Arts ’06) and features designs from Emmy-nominated costume designer and alumna Rebecca Toon (BFA - Dramatic Arts ’06) and from MFA - Dramatic Arts student Lucy Du, who used the lighting and set design of the show as the basis of her master’s thesis project.
MFA student Lucy Du explains the set design and how she brought director Jamie Dunsdon's vision to life.
What's so bad about asking a few questions? Does that really warrant having your wings ripped off, your halo thrown in the bin and being tossed out of Heaven? If wanting a few answers is so bad, then who would want to be good?
This contemporary adaptation of Milton's epic poem is the ultimate revenge story. Satan, having been freshly banished to hell, is hungry for vengeance and determined to take out all her pain and everything she's lost on God's precious Adam and Eve. She's got a chip on her shoulder where her wings used to be, and a God-shaped hole in her heart.
Dunsdon says while people might expect something “stuffy” when thinking of classic literature, this adaptation of Paradise Lost is sexy, fresh, funny and contemporary.
“It's a comedy! Erin Shields has written the character of Satan as a woman that many of us will sympathize with, or at least we might see ourselves in. She thinks of herself as the hero of the story and narrates it from her perspective, which is just a delight.”
Dunsdon says she’s ecstatic to be back on campus to direct a Mainstage for the Drama Department’s Alumni Season.
“When one of my former professors heard that I'd been dying to work on Paradise Lost, fellow alumna Rebecca Toon and I were invited to take part. We spent many happy hours here back in the early 2000s and are so honoured to be welcomed back.”
“ULethbridge is where I found my passion and where I began to build my skills as a director, so it is a genuine delight to return a couple decades later to bring this piece to life with the next generation of artists,” Dunsdon adds.
“I owe so much to the professors and staff at ULethbridge, and I hope I can pay it forward to the students who build Paradise Lost with me."
Dunsdon says she's particularly excited to work with young artists, adding that they have so much joy to offer to the creative process.
"The joy that students bring inevitably makes its way on stage for the audience! One of the things I'm most excited about sharing with an audience when it opens is the surprising and quirky world our creative team has created."
Paradise Lost is full of surprises and playful experiments, encouraging audiences to laugh and find personal meaning in the performance.
"People who enjoyed Good Omens, Fleabag, The Good Place or Dogma should definitely get out to see this!"