Before Honour: Confessions of a Mumbai Courtesan begins, the audience is plunged into complete and total darkness in the Montréal Arts Interculturels (MAI) theatre. When a spotlight comes up on writer and performer Dipti Mehta—her face partially obscured from our view by a colorful, bejeweled scarf—her figure is the only limb[Read More…]
Theatre
Home Theatre Productions is a welcome addition to the Montreal theatre community
Title of Show, Home Theatre Productions’ inaugural project, debuted on Sept. 12 at the Mainline Theatre. Those in attendance on opening night saw the intimate space packed with friends of the cast and crew, members of the community, and theatre fans alike, leaving nary an empty seat. The excitement in[Read More…]
Bring Your Own Juice supplies the laughs
In the midst of the pre-finals panic, there is often little time for humour. However, one McGill group is bringing joy and laughter to the community, providing some much needed respite from this terribly unfunny season. Bring Your Own Juice (BYOJ), McGill’s only sketch comedy group, hosted a three-night show[Read More…]
McGill Drama Festival continues to impress
Every year, Player’s Theatre’s Drama Festival highlights the abundance of student talent that McGill’s theatre scene has to offer. Showing until Feb. 23, the festival offers six original short plays written, directed, produced, and performed by students. Stories that depicted everything from a first date between high-schoolers to an existential[Read More…]
‘Cyclops’: McGill Classics Play entertains and educates
From Feb. 6 to 9, audiences at the Théâtre Sainte-Catherine Café-Bar were treated to an intrepid rendition of Cyclops, an ancient Greek play by Euripides. This run of Cyclops was the latest edition of a time-honoured theatrical spectacle: The McGill Classics Play. Every year since the 2011 staging of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon,[Read More…]
Cinema Politica features indigenous-made cinema
On Feb. 4, Cinema Politica presented a series of documentaries by indigenous filmmakers, including a short animation, as part of Concordia University’s First Voices Week. With Flat Rocks and Lil Hard Knox filmmakers Courtney Montour and Karonhiarokwas Roxann Whitebean present to answer questions after the screening, illuminating the processes and intentions behind[Read More…]
Mich Cota combines opera and Algonquin in ‘Wàsakozi’
From Jan. 24 to 26, the Montréal, arts interculturels (MAI) staged Wàsakozi, an opera written and composed by Mich Cota. Cota is an Algonquin-mixed, Two-Spirit artist based in Montreal, and the debut of Wàsakozi was a milestone: It was the first recorded opera performed in Algonquin. ‘Wàsakozi’ means ‘reflection of light’[Read More…]
Centaur’s ‘Queer Reading Series’ celebrates new voices
Traditionally, a stage reading is a stripped-down version of an author’s work. With no set design and minimal effort put toward costuming or props, performance and plot are at the forefront. Attending a reading allows keen audiences to access an unfinished product. Abandoning notions of polish and perfection relieves creators[Read More…]
‘Spring Awakening’: A change of scene and season
The Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society’s (AUTS) production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s 2006 musical, Spring Awakening premiered on Jan. 24 at Moyse Hall. Directed by Kyra Church (Concordia BA) and adapted from the 1891 Frank Wedekind play of the same name, Spring Awakening is a coming-of-age tale that follows the lives[Read More…]
‘True Crime’ doubles down on deception
True Crime is labyrinthine. The show, which played at the Centaur from Jan. 8-27, recounts indie-singer-turned-true-crime-writer Torquil Campbell’s real-life investigation into his con man doppelgänger, Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter. In 90 short minutes, Campbell whirls through his crimes, a series of kidnappings and murders, portraying Gerhartsreiter and his many aliases. Campbell also[Read More…]