MURRAY FARNELL
M U R B A L L P R O D U C T I O N S
Murball Productions is a Edmonton-based theatre company, producing new and published works from Canada's foremost and upcoming playwrights.
We strive to produce experiences that are fresh, challenging, and thought-provoking for our audience. Thank you for supporting live performance in our country!
Previous Productions
"The Bone House will scare you out of your skin"
- GigCity (Read the full review here)
"The Bone House provides intelligent commentary on society’s obsession with serial killers. Not only will viewers come out of this play having been frightened, they will also come out of it with more awareness of their compliant role in the mythicization of murderers." - The Gateway
(Read the full review here)
It is a scary show – to the point where some audience members on opening night were screaming and gasping – but the fear is all created through suggestion, reflection, and imagination… (read the full review here)
"Murray Farnell brings the titular character of Henry to life with energy and enthusiasm that is breathtaking...Raw, uncomfortable, and engaging, Here Lies Henry is a beautifully written and acted 75 minutes of theatre."
CBC Winnipeg 4 STARS
{Farnell} excels at creating a character you at once pity, root for and get insanely frustrated by.
- SASKATOON STAR-PHOENIX
Farnell is an accessible actor, completely in the moment and you root for him.
4.5 STARS, EDMONTON SUN
Producer/Performer - Murray Farnell
Director - Ray Strachan
Ray is pleased to be directing at the Winnipeg Fringe once again. Ray has worked as an actor and director with; The Nomadic Players, RMTC, PTE, Theatre Calgary, CanStage, Studio 180, Sarasvati Productions, and various Winnipeg Fringe productions.
Ray trained with The Black Hole Theatre Company at the University of Manitoba.
Edmonton Sun Review - 4.5 STARS
Henry (Murray Farnell) is a liar. He lets us in on that fairly soon in Here Lies Henry, Daniel MacIvor’s acclaimed one-man show.
His prevarications are just an ingenious piece of MacIvor’s shorthand and he lets us know just how unreliable a narrator Henry is right off the top.
And this being MacIvor, we know we have to listen closely to this often confusing stream-of-consciousness monologue because even Henry’s lies will tell us volumes about our perceptions of the truth, the complexity of relationships and the mysterious nature of life, love, and death.
Then there’s the body in the next room and the fried egg sandwiches. Well, maybe not a lot about fried egg sandwiches but they do figure in the story.
Henry finds himself in everyone’s favourite existential nightmare. He’s in front of an audience and he doesn’t know why. Out of desperation, he begins to fill the time with meaningless babble — singing bits of songs, glumly attempting a a joke or two. It’s difficult not to be frustrated with Henry’s bouncing off metaphorical walls but Farnell is an accessible actor, completely in the moment and you root for him.
It’s also a good idea to listen closely because there is more here than first meets the ear. Clues evolve that are keys to Henry’s past. Every time he mentions his father, he coughs. He observes, “I’m here to tell you something that you already know.” Henry’s character begins to fill in. A feeling develops that we all are in this life thing together.
You soon realize that MacIvor/Farnell are presenting the jig saw puzzle of a life lived and it’s up to us to make the pieces fit. Conversely, as we already know, Henry is a liar and so just how much is the truth? In fact, he conveniently lists the kinds of lies he might be engaged in. At the end Farnell sits on his only prop - a single chair — and pulls it together leaving us to draw many of our own conclusions and deep thoughts to carry out in the Fringe evening.
4.5 Suns out of 5