Calgary playwright Arun Lakra brings crime thriller to Vertigo stage with Heist

Calgary playwright Arun Lakra's new crime thriller Heist was inspired by the Ocean's 11 movies. It's at Vertigo Theatre through Feb.25 (Photo: Courtesy Arun Lakra)

Arun Lakra is a Calgary playwright with a day job as an opthalmologist. His first play, Sequence, expertly blended suspense and science so well it was practically a new theatrical genre. Sequence also won a Calgary Critics Award in 2013 for best new play. Lakra is back with a new play, Heist, which is onstage at Vertigo Mystery Theatre through Feb. 25. CTV News reached out to Lakra to find out all about Heist. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s Heist about?
Heist is a fun, funny, edge-of-your-seat, cinematic, mind-twisting, mystery-thriller. We’re doing our best to bring the sizzle of the Ocean's 11 franchise to the stage, having all kinds of fun with high-tech toys and lasers and drones and video projections.

My goal from the beginning has been to create a show that can be as much fun for my teenage kids as my octogenarian parents, and with the help of our brilliant director Haysam Kadri and the amazing Vertigo team, I’m starting to believe we might just pull it off. I guess we’ll find out real soon! I came up with the story, but I’ve had a lot of help along the way.

And just for fun, we are working on a little something special, called After-Heist. For me, one of the best parts of going to see a movie or play, especially one that involves some
deciphering, is the post-show conversation. We hope to enhance this “drive-home” experience by offering the audience a short “Vertigo radio play” which continues on where the play leaves off. It’s a bit of an experiment, but I’m hoping people enjoy it.

Tonight (Jan 31) our Artistic Director Jack Grinhaus and our HEIST Set Designer Scott Reid will discuss how they pull off this heist in a pre-show discussion. Join us in the Catalyst Lounge before the show! pic.twitter.com/xU1DTTOwyj

— Vertigo Theatre (@Vertigotheatre) January 31, 2024

2. Movies can go anywhere but a play is stuck on a stage. How did that impact the
storytelling?
Exactly! That’s the first thing I thought of when Chad Rabinovitz from Bloomington Playwrights Project (Indiana) wanted to commission me to write a ‘heist’ play.

He said there were lots of great heist movies, but really nothing for stage. So after I thought about it, I actually declined his offer. I mean, how could you possibly recreate the sizzle and glitz of a $100 million budget on stage?

And furthermore, in movies, you have the benefit of using sneaky editing and specific camera angles to direct, and misdirect, viewers. With today’s audiences being so smart and sophisticated, how could you possibly surprise them, on a simple stage?

Ultimately, I realized that while we could never duplicate the screen magic, and nor should we try, being on stage also gave us unique advantages and opportunities.

And that became my challenge. To somehow take an audience on an entertaining, surprising, and satisfying journey, and to give them a cinematic experience on a theatrical stage.

3. What did you learn from writing Sequence that helped you with Heist?
I love writing complex, intricately-plotted stories. Sequence was a science-thriller that needed every neuron in my brain to finally get it on the page.

When I sat down to write Heist, I thought (hoped) it was going to be much easier. I was so wrong!

In order to stay one step ahead of the audience, I needed to write something that had multiple layers and twists and uncertainty and unpredictability. And to play with chronology and illusion.

And it turned out, many of the skills I had acquired in the writing of Sequence were helpful in the creation of Heist. And like Sequence, writing this play also required a steady dose of Advil and caffeine.

4. Did you write the parts with any actors in mind?
My favourite heist movie is Ocean's 11. So the Clooney-Pitt relationship was definitely in my subconscious as I was writing this. And for some reason, I wrote one of the characters with
Stephen Merchant in my head.

5. What did you learn from ophthalmology that helped you on Heist?
For me, writing is a two-phase process. The first step is what I simplistically call “left-brain” work (apologies to my neuroscientist colleagues who are rolling their eyes right now). This
involves the outlining, plotting, and structural elements. I found that many of the skills and processes (logic, methodology, research) I learned in medicine were applicable to this phase.
(And just for fun, I get to throw in a couple of medical easter eggs for my own amusement.)

The second phase is the actual writing. There I try to kick out the MD in my head (who doesn’t leave without a fight).

For more about Heist, go here.