Those who have spent any considerable amount of time in Montreal are aware that the issue of multilingualism is more than simply one of communication. It’s a complex narrative of social history, political debate, and the search for individual identity—all inexorably linked to the myriad of personal histories that inform[Read More…]
Theatre
Peer Review: Players’ Theatre Round Dance
When watching student productions, it’s easy to ignore the behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating a single show. From lighting and set design to casting and directing, every element of these productions is under the control of individual students. Off stage, many of these same players simultaneously spend their[Read More…]
Windy City for the win in AUTS’ Chicago
Part of the thrill that comes from live musical theatre is knowing that something could go wrong at any moment, but rarely does. The best theatre uses this to its advantage, radiating a sense of jubilant spontaneity that wriggles its way into the audience’s hearts and leaves them humming the[Read More…]
A night at the opera
As part of their 2014-2015 season, l’Opéra de Montréal produced Camille Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah, a biblical tale of lovers’ deceit and the might of God. Sung entirely in French, Samson and Delilah tells the story of the Hebrew Samson (Endrik Wottrich), who used his God-given strength to free[Read More…]
Uneven script limits Players’ production’s promising potential
The Creation of the World and Other Business is a deep cut of Arthur Miller’s work. The self-serious American playwright tried his hand at comedy, and what followed was nothing if not memorable and confusing. In fact, director Kirsten Kephalas admits that the play is “one of the worst[Read More…]
Peer review: McGill Classics Play
In a world where Hollywood churns out high-budget Classics-themed blockbusters like Troy (2004) and 300 (2006) every few years, it’s pretty common to find these types of ancient stories being retold in a dramatic form that’s accessible to modern audiences. What’s far more rare though, is to come across a[Read More…]
The Yellow Wallpaper puts on clinic in simple, eerie brilliance
Oftentimes it is the sheer surface simplicity of art that enables it to strike a resonant tone within the audience. Tuesday Night Theater (TNC)’s production of the The Yellow Wallpaper, based off of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s haunting 1892 short story, brilliantly demonstrates this phenomenon. On the surface, TNC’s rather frugal[Read More…]
Cock opera takes Old Montreal
Johnny Legdick is a rock opera about oppression, identity, and above all, a man who has a leg where his penis is supposed to be.
Pop Rhetoric: Christopher Nolan and the cinema of abstraction
Christopher Nolan used to make movies about people. The director, along with his script-writing brother Jonathan Nolan, have made some of the best genre films of the past decade, including Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002), The Prestige (2006), and two-thirds of the Dark Knight trilogy. His recent movies—particularly his latest film, Interstellar—have confirmed a[Read More…]
Look Back in Anger
Sharing a one-bedroom apartment with four emotional young Brits for two and a half hours as they push through the most difficult part of their lives does not sound like an ideal night out, but the fluid direction and engrossing emotion of TNC’s Look Back in Anger make it a[Read More…]
