The extent to which Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie is autobiographical will always remain ambiguous. The play, however, looks undeniably inward, casting its spotlight on tensions that emerge within the four walls of a house. This memory play, told from the perspective of Tom Wingfield (nicknamed “Shakespeare”), who reminisces over[Read More…]
Arts & Entertainment
Keep up to date on local art, new albums, and everything entertainment-related.
Short in length, but with long-lasting delight
Every year, popular media whips up a great hullabaloo over the Oscars. However, it’s important to keep in mind exactly which aspects of the awards generate buzz: Who is leading in the Best Picture race? When will the next Harvey Weinstein temper-tantrum be? Is Bjork wearing a swan around her[Read More…]
The Joy Formidable: Wolf’s Law
The century-old Wolf’s Law says that our bones can adapt themselves to carry increasingly heavier loads over time; the more stress we place on our bones, the more resistant they become to these external pressures. There seems to be no better testament to this theory than Welsh band The Joy[Read More…]
Between the gun and the runway
Prachi, a husky 24-year old with a dull gaze, barks at a group of young Hindu girls. After two and a half hours of running, crawling, and combat drills, their colourful saris are torn and dusty. While Prachi trains girls in the skills required of a Hindu fundamentalist at the[Read More…]
Danish winter much warmer with steamy liaison
Costume dramas are a risky business. Either they’re artificial and implausible, or the novelty of lace-sleeves, elaborate hairdos, and expensive props simply overshadows the plot and the acting. There are times, however, when this isn’t the case; when the historical background is the focus, and costume only succeeds in augmenting[Read More…]
Through the looking glass: the faces of war
Aydin Matlabi’s photographs of Iran do not match the expected photojournalist tenor; rather, they take on an extremely personal, artistic form. His current exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), Landscape, Revolution, People, exemplifies this perfectly. Born in Iran but raised in Montreal, Matlabi possesses a unique voice:[Read More…]
No room for ageism in Quartet—only high octaves
I didn’t need a sign to tell me which theatre Quartet was playing in—all I had to do was follow the large crowd of mature movie-goers. I certainly felt like an oddball, sitting in the theatre where the average age was well above 60. But do not be deceived—there is[Read More…]
Fighting repression, one Lego figure at a time
At the exhibit’s entrance is wall, with a child-like drawing of a person, accompanied by a dictionary definition of the term ‘human being’. Next to this drawing is one of an owl; following, is an image of a box coloured in grey, which the accompanying caption tells us represents the[Read More…]
Thomas Demand: deceit and delight
Walking into Thomas Demand’s Embassy (2007), it is easy to empathize with the uneasiness the artist must have felt when visiting the titular Embassy of the Republic of Niger in Rome to prepare for this series. Frameless, life-size prints, appearing as part of the wall they are mounted on, depict[Read More…]
Various Artists: Girls Soundtrack, Vol. 1
The debut season of Girls received effusive praise, and viewers fell in love with the triple-threat director, writer, and lead actress Lena Dunham. Dunham plays Hannah Horvath, a twenty-something writer living in New York, who struggles with a steady job and a relationship with an uber-horny boyfriend. Among the complicated[Read More…]
