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EDMONTON - It's not everyday you get to act like a monster on stage.
Especially one created by acclaimed Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor.
And one of the ways actor Nathan Cuckow prepared for the mindset of the play Monster was by viewing horror films.
"I'm quite a big horror movie fan, and I certainly watched a lot of them to psych myself up," said Cuckow, naming Halloween, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho.
Cuckow stars in the Kill Your Television production of Monster opening tonight at the Roxy Theatre.
As for portraying a monster:
"Well, I've played dark characters before, but certainly the subject matter of the piece can be a little daunting because it is certainly dark in nature," said Cuckow.
The one-man, multi-character play indeed explores the dark side of human nature, yet it also happens to be a humorous and clever piece of theatre, explained Cuckow.
"Monster is the first MacIvor piece I ever saw (1998 in Calgary, performed by the playwright himself) and it really jumped out at me," said Cuckow.
"There's plenty of humour and some silly fun, but at the same time there are some complex ideas and questions asked within the play."
Provocative issues that should leave audiences thinking about their own lives, and the society we live in, he added.
Monster follows several storylines: there's the young boy recalling a neighbour who brutally hacked up his dad; a couple who quarrel, make up, and decide to get married after seeing a horror movie about a young man who brutally hacked up his dad; a man who dreamed up the film, but got no credit because he was said to have stolen the idea from a famous unfinished film; and the original filmmaker who made the incomplete epic.
The Cape Breton-born MacIvor is one of the country's best-known, most prolific playwrights. Monster, first performed in 1998, and His House, have become icons in Canadian theatre.
This production of Monster will be his most up-to-date version.
"MacIvor just performed this show for the last time in Toronto, and did rewrites, and I'm working off his most current production script - which is kind of exciting," said Cuckow.
It's a challenging play for an actor. Cuckow has to master a dozen or so characters of various ages, sexes and walks of life.
"I would say there's six main characters, and several other smaller characters that appear briefly. And even though they all have their different negative qualities, there's also some compassionate or other qualities that exist among the other characters; only one of them is really nasty."
Kill Your Television has been around since 2000.
"All of our productions have been nominated for the outstanding independent Sterling Award - and we've won four times out of six," said Cuckow.