Give Peace a Chance

I love the internet... Risha Yorke is my "friend on Facebook." Yoko Ono is one of Risha's "friends." Which is very fitting, because Risha is a playwright, and her latest offering, through her company draft89 is the John/Yoko Bed Piece, about to open in Toronto.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:
"draft89 is thrilled to present John/Yoko Bed Piece by up and coming writer and director Risha Yorke. Based on John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 week long Bed-In for Peace for Peace in Montreal, this multi-disciplinary piece opens Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at the Theatre Centre.

John/Yoko Bed Piece takes the audience on psychedelic trip back to Montreal and rooms 1738 and 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their historic Bed-In for Peace. Focusing on the political atmosphere of the time, the play features characters based on personalities such as Al Capp, Dick Gregory, Timothy Leary, Bobby Seale, Tommy Smothers, and Derek Taylor. Above all, John/Yoko Bed Piece is about two people using non-violent ways to protest wars and promote peace.

In keeping with draft89’s mandate to collaborate with artists in a variety of mediums, John/Yoko Bed Piece is an installation piece, which combines performance, film, music and visual arts. Part of the proceeds of the show will go towards Yoko Ono’s Dream Power Project.

Writer and Director Risha Yorke leads a cast of 20 plus actors in this ground breaking performance that follows draft89’s acclaimed 2007 production of FOE. With original music composed by Graham Porter and set and costume designs by Samantha Brown, John/Yoko Bed Piece is not to be missed!"

Pretty much sums it up, we figure. If you're in Toronto, you might like to check it out. We'd say if you are old enough to remember the Bed In for Peace, you should definitely be there... but some who might be old enough, might not have a clear memory of that period of their lives... In which case, you should most definitely be at this production.

And if you are too young to have any memory of this event, well... you truly should be at this show, just to find out what you missed. Those were the days!!!