Alice Walker What do you do when you’re trapped in a Buenos Aires prison? You fantasize about movie stars, of course. That, at least, is how Molina—a gay window-dresser in prison for “corrupting a minor”—has gotten through his darkest hours. When Valentin, a hunky Marxist revolutionary accused of attempting to[Read More…]

Opera of Montreal Shortly after the curtain rises on Opera of Montreal’s production of Werther, a young boy wheels a bicycle across the stage, laughing and carousing with his friends. The bicycle remains onstage through the first act, occasionally pedaled by the boy but mostly left in a corner, untouched[Read More…]

Holly Stewart Though it usually operates on a smaller scale, this week Opera McGill will debut a big-budget, big-cast version of what is arguably the world’s biggest-name opera: Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. “It’s the world’s favourite opera, in some way,” says Patrick Hansen, the director of McGill’s Opera Studies program.[Read More…]

Perhaps inspired by the trials of his conflicted protagonist, director Max Zidel ambitiously attacks Aeschylus’ three-part tragedy in The Oresteia Rewritten, now on at Players’ Theatre. The result of his efforts: a powerful and unexpectedly fast-paced reproduction full of sound and fury. From early on in the play it is[Read More…]

Anna Katycheva Even if you’ve never heard of McGill’s Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre (TNC), you’ve probably wondered why there’s a 50s-inspired neon sign on the otherwise pleasant ivory tower that is the Islamic Studies building. But within the walls of this subtle structure is a world of student ingenuity and[Read More…]

Many of the films that will be contending in this year’s Academy Awards were released during the holiday season. For this reason, we bring you a rundown of the best movies from December 2010 that you should be sure to catch in theatres before school starts taking over.

Sophie Silkes  As a broke college student, attending an opera can be jarring and strange: spectators are dressed to the nines, songs are sung in languages most of us don’t understand, actors are wearing over-the-top costumes, and melodramatic stories are being unfurled before us. But if you suspend your cynicism,[Read More…]

Holly Stewart A cold Saturday evening and the first snowfall of the season didn’t stop the line for the Rocky Horror Picture Show from extending around the block. It’s safe to say that those who like it, like it a lot. Dedicated fans were dressed in drag and dishabille, even[Read More…]

Something about musical theatre is inherently ridiculous. It has to do with the fact that, whenever you see people singing onstage, you can’t help but notice that you’re watching a performance. As Julien Silverman and Dane Stewart point out in their director’s note, there is a long-standing tradition of “self-reference[Read More…]

I have only experienced a few perception-altering performances in my life, and Friday night’s National Ballet performance of Marie Chouinard’s 24 Preludes by Chopin and Crystal Pite’s Emergence was one of them. Prior to the performance, I was certain I was not a person who could enjoy contemporary ballet. I[Read More…]