How to Disappear Completely
Itai Erdal is an award winning lighting designer. He’s also a gifted storyteller who draws on a life fully lived between his birthplace, Jerusalem, and his current home in Vancouver, BC. In How to Disappear Completely, Erdal demonstrates his approach to theatrical lighting while also reflecting on the events that followed his mother asking him to take her life.
In 2000, award-winning lighting designer, Itai Erdal received a phone call telling him his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and had nine months to live. Erdal promptly travelled to Israel to spend every moment he could with his mother. During that time he shot hours of film and hundreds of pictures, documenting her final days. In this deeply profound yet surprisingly funny theatre piece, Erdal demonstrates his approach to theatrical lighting while also reflecting on the events that followed his mother asking him to take her life. This piece pairs the power of Erdal’s story with the nuanced potency of stage lighting.
Tour history
- Chutzpah! Festival (World Premier) 2011 / Vancouver
- The Shadbolt Centre 2012 / Burnaby
- Factory Theatre 2012 / Toronto
- On The Boards 2013 / Seattle, USA
- Summerworks Festival 2013 / Toronto
- The Stratford Festival 2013 / Stratford
- TBA Festival 2013 / Portland, USA
- Pivot Festival 2014 / Whitehorse
- 2b Theatre 2014 / Halifax
- Edinburgh Fringe 2014 / Edinburgh, Scotland
- Battersea Arts Centre 2014 / London, England
- Dublin Fringe 2014 / Dublin, Ireland
- Gateway Theatre 2014 / Richmond
- Belfry Theatre 2014 / Victoria
- Usine C 2015 / Montreal
- JW3 2015 / London, England
- SICK! Festival 2015 / Manchester & Brighton, England
- Mayk, Mayfest 2015 / Bristol
- Winnipeg Jewish Theatre 2017 / Winnipeg
- Segal Centre for the Arts 2017 / Montreal
- Undercurrents Festival 2018 / Ottawa
- Tmuna Theatre 2018 / Tel Aviv, Israel
- Khan Theatre 2018 / Jerusalem, Israel
- High Performance Rodeo 2019 / Calgary
- Text – Itai Erdal with James Long, Anita Rochon & Emelia Symington Fedy
- Performer & Lighting Design – Itai Erdal
- Director – James Long
- Sound Design – Emelia Symington Fedy
- Original Composition – Andrea Young
- Projection Design – Jamie Nesbitt
- Remount Projection Design – Corwin Furguson
- Dramaturge – Anita Rochon
Trailer
Reviews
“As a performer, Erdal appears completely at ease and totally engaging on stage… This is intimate theatre that’s astonishingly brave and completely entertaining. How To Disappear Completely inspires us to live like a Parcan (lighting instrument), shining brightly then glowing warmly as we fade to black”
Vancouver Courier
“How to Disappear Completely is a work of art.”
