Arts Club's Heist pushes technical theatre to operatic levels with lasers, drones, and aerial work

The Arts Club Theatre Company's production of Heist, opening September 17 at the Stanley BFL CANADA Stage, is pulling off a feat most theatres would consider impossible: staging a play that reads like Ocean's 11 crossed with a whodunit, complete with the movie's technical demands.

Arun Lakra's script calls for lasers, drones, sensors, fog, flashing lights, on-screen graphics, rapid-fire sound cues, and multiple aerial sequences requiring wires, harnesses, and actors dropping from the grid. The plot follows a team of criminals attempting to steal a highly prized diamond from an international jewel thief's lair.

Director Andrew Kushnir says the sheer number of integrated cues—across lighting, sound, video, aerial work, and lasers—is unprecedented in his experience. "The number of cues for this show is in the hundreds and hundreds. It's at an operatic level," Kushnir told Stir. "I've worked on shows that are intricate, but I'd say that this is the most complex in terms of integrating all those design elements. Any heist movie has you wondering, 'Can these people actually pull this off?' And I'd say the play is no exception."

Kushnir hasn't seen the play performed before—it premiered in Calgary in 2024. Instead, he assembled an A-team of Vancouver designers to create an original version. Set designer Ryan Cormack, who just completed The Play That Goes Wrong for the Arts Club, is handling the tricked-out set design required to pull off the rapid-fire jump cuts and surprises. Joining him are costume designer Barbara Clayden, lighting designer Sophie Tang, and music and sound designer Malcolm Dow.

"Not unlike in a heist movie, you want to have your A team," Kushnir said, "and it feels like we've done a comparable thing with Vancouver's design community."

Heist runs through October 18.