VICTORIA — Fear attracted Celine Stubel to the lead role in “Venus in Fur.”
“Whenever I read something where I feel like, oh, I don’t know how I could do this, that’s when I should go for it,” said the actress who, after all, had played mostly nice girls before now.
In “Venus,” on at Victoria’s Belfry Theatre through Dec. 14, Stubel plays Vanda, a brash, unschooled woman to be reckoned with.
Opposite Stubel is Vincent Gale as Thomas, the director of a new play about to be staged in New York City. He’s looking to cast an actress as Wanda von Dunayev in this adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 book Venus in Furs.
This happens to be the novel that inspired the term sado-masochism.
When Vincent and Vanda meet, she gives him a stunning audition for the role of Wanda. As the pair become caught up in the novel’s characters, “the lines between fiction and reality blur,” said Stubel.
“The power shifts back and forth between he and I,” in an exploration of sex, power and desire.
“To play this role, I have to take on a certain size; a sense of entitlement and aggression,” she added.
This is not something Stubel’s used to. But “Venus in Fur” director Michael Shamata sought her out for this role. She figured she would be crazy to not seize it.
Written by David Ives, “Venus” premiered off-Broadway in New York City in 2010, and was called “90 minutes of good, kinky fun” by the New York Times. After an extended run, it opened on Broadway in November 2011 and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play.
In Canada, “Venus” played at Toronto’s Canadian Stage Company in 2013 and was so successful that it has returned for two more runs. Stubel, who works all over Canada, said she’s glad to be in her home town of Victoria, taking on such a part.
“You can’t help but see your whole life through the lens of the show,” she said.
“I hope people will see a bit of themselves in the production” and continue to think about the ideas in it.
A pair of lines from “Venus” she relishes:
“Don’t we go to plays for passions we don’t get in life?” asks Thomas.
“I thought we were supposed to go to life,” Vanda says, “for passions we don’t get in life.”
