To entertain. To explore. To inform.

These have always been the pillars on which live theatre is built.

On Wednesday, February 18 ArtSpring brings a highly praised one-woman play to Salt Spring in which actress Emmilia Gordon presents a powerful drama about drink spiking and drug facilitated sexual assault.

If that sounds heavy duty, well, it is and it isn’t. The subject is serious and sobering, but the dramatic realization is dynamic, engaging, and, if it doesn’t sound too odd to say it, irresistibly entertaining. Come see the show to become informed, but come to see it also for the sheer vigour and brilliance of its acting.

Dissolve, written by Vancouver playwright Meghan Gardiner and directed by Renee Iaci (whom you may remember playing one of the two leads in Summer of My Amazing Luck presented at ArtSpring two years ago), will be performed twice on February 18 – in the morning for students from GISS, and at 7:30 at ArtSpring for the general public (with parents especially invitied). A post-show discussion facilitated by public health nurse Trinda Gajek will follow each performance.

Tickets for the evening show, at $15 for adults and $5 for youth (the play is recommended for youth over 16), are available online or from the ArtSpring Ticket Centre – 537-2102.