What if Anne Frank had survived? What would her life and struggles consist of after enduring the most well known genocide of the past century, possibly of all history? This is the alternate universe that writer Alix Sobler portrays in The Secret Annex, directed by Marcia Kash. With a cast[Read More…]
Theatre
Improv Montreal’s VICEGRIP is a fresh take on a played-out trope
The lobby of Improv Montreal resonates 'cool.' It’s immediately clear that it’s designed for audiences to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. There’s a sense of calm that almost feels anachronistic, something that’s far too difficult to find in the most classically cool venues. It definitely sets the scene for[Read More…]
Players’ Theatre’s production of “Dinner!” offers a feast of life and death
The ideal audience member of Players’ Theatre production of Dinner! is someone who played with their food as a child, and sat in on philosophy lectures as a first year wondering how the hell this applies to real life. Dinner!, written by Moira Buffini and first premiering in 2002, follows[Read More…]
Exploring other worlds: The McGill Classics department reimagines 2500-year-old play Hekabe
The Ancient Greek tragedy Hekabe, also known as Hecuba, takes place on the sandy shores of Thrace after the fall of Troy. The Trojan queen Hekabe has been captured as a slave and kept at a camp, destined for a life of unending despair. Eerie in the most fascinating way,[Read More…]
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly offers an immersive experience
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly opens with the beeping of life support, and a comatose figure; right away the audience knows that what follows will be as hard-hitting as it is intimate. Like the novel and film version of the same name, Tuesday Night Café (TNC)’s stage adaptation of[Read More…]
The darkness of Othello revealed in Opera Montreal’s Otello
Few stories are as tragic or as devastating as Shakespeare’s Othello, a drama that questions truth and character at its core. Guiseppi Verdi’s interpretation of the drama is equally haunting, with a satisfying balance of choral, solo, duet, and quartet pieces that highlight the complexities of the story. The libretto[Read More…]
Falling in love with the opera at L’elisir d’amore
Opera McGill’s January production of Donizetti’s Italian comic opera L’elisir d’amore is a light-hearted tale of love and alchemy, all centred around the aching heart of a pitiable young man and the conniving acts of a foreign swindler. The talent of the Conductor, Patrick Hansen, and the Stage Director, François[Read More…]
Conspiracy! is about more than just theories
History is a black box where nobody in the present can ever really know what happened in the past. Lies become truth through force of attrition, and truths are lost forever to the erosion of records. This unsteady ground is the foundation of Chocolate Moose Theatre Company’s production of Conspiracy!,[Read More…]
La vie Boheme: AUTS’ RENT sheds light and darkness on New York’s starving artists
Sentimental is a term that is often used in a derogatory way in criticism. Strong emotions are juxtaposed with a more savvy and self-aware, or clear-headed and objective approach to human issues. ‘Sentimental’ is a label frequently applied to musicals, and this year’s Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society (AUTS) production, RENT[Read More…]
Anonymous Monsters: Players’ Theatre examines the legacy of evil in East of Berlin
Part of growing up is coming to the realization that your parents aren’t exactly who you thought they were when you were a child. They lived for a relatively long time before your birth, had their own careers, loves, and transgressions. Though that specific version of them is lost forever[Read More…]
