Notorious Vancouver strip club to host sinful theatre production

David Newham and Daniel Deorksenthink it's afitting choice to perform a play aboutdebauchery and death ina Vancouver denof iniquity.

The co-producers and co-stars of A Steady Rain, which opens Friday at the Penthouse Night Club, hopeto entice theiraudience with the historic pull of this downtown club.

"Back in its heyday it was a nightclub that everybody wanted to visit," said Newham, who'll be playing one of two Chicago police constables who find themselves caught up in some toughdecisions.

"They find themselves playing both sides of the street, you might say, so we found this location thematically appropriate."

The vintage Vancouver club, known for its neon glare, saucy name and seven decades of bad behaviour, will host A Steady Rain in its "intimate" upper rooms, where stars such as LouisArmstrong and Ella Fitzgerald once retired for private after-parties.

The Penthouselegacy lives on as the backdrop to the Seven Tyrants Theatre Society production,the co-stars told The Early Edition's Margaret Gallagher.

"As you come up the stairs you notice some of the old pieces from those days are here old menus, wine bottles cigarette packages," Newhamsaid. "So visitors get a chance to see the history for themselves."

Since it opened in 1947, the building has borne witness to fires, robberies and even a murder.

"There is quite a history and I think you can feel that," said Newham,pointingto "similarities" between his character and the Penthouse's macabre past.

A Steady Rain, created by Mad Men and House of Cards writer Keith Huff,features two cops who inadvertently return a child to a serial killer, and are then left to deal with the consequences.

It opened on Broadway in 2009, starring Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman.

Deorksen said the story deals with the "fractured nature" of social systems.

"Although it was written a decade ago it seems to have conjured up premonitions of some of what's going on right now," he said.

The playweavesin themes that address police brutality, racism andinequality, whichillustrates"thecomplicated places people get into, thatforce them to do sometimes incomprehensible things."

Deorksen wants audiences to walk away from the play with a desire to step outside of their own experiences and "look at every story from every side possible."

And they might start with the Penthouse itself, he said.

"People might look askance at the type of business that's here, but it also has a tremendous history."

Behind the Scenes: The Penthouse

8 years ago

Duration 1:11

Find out what its like to shoot in Vancouvers historic night club The Penthouse - a place with so much character its almost a character itself.