CPM's Picture of the Week, March 15, 2012

Gemma James-Smith and Gil Garratt in the 

bright frolic that is The Game of Love and Chance

at Centaur (photo credit: lucetg.com)

(read our review)

Review: The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

Testing the limits of normalcy and attraction

McGill’s TNC takes on The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

By Rebecca Ugolini

This month, McGill’s English-department student drama group Tuesday Night Café Theatre continues Montreal’s recent Equus-fuelled trend of plays which push the boundaries of the sexually normative with a staging of Edward Albee’s 2002 play The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

The story of Martin, a 50-year-old architect whose family is mortified to discover he has fallen in love—and in lust—with a goat, Albee’s script is psychologically complex and morally ambiguous. Although Albee’s rapid-fire dialogue eventually becomes tedious rather than witty, TNC’s cast and crew do an excellent job staging such an ambitious project.

Centaur announces 2012-13 season

Centaur offers a varied assortment of works
by Estelle Rosen and Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Among the well-known Montrealers appearing in Centaur Theatre's 2012-13 season are actor Johanna Nutter (who continues to tour with her solo hit My Pregnant Brother) and Andrew Shaver (whose Haunted Hillbilly is one of the highly-anticipated productions later in this season at the Old Stock Exchange).

Nutter is appearing in David Lindsay Abaire's Good People - described by the Company's Artistic Director, Roy Surette, as "desperation meets affluence". Shaver, meanwhile, is directing Mark Doherty's Trad (which was presented four years ago).

Blog: Crystle Reid on ArtHere!, March 14, 2012

Part V Happy Travels!

by Crystle Reid

Well we’re in the home stretch now: ArtHere! is happening this Friday night. In all honesty, at this point I generally tend to feel relieved we’re almost done and this one is certainly no different. After a series of unfortunate events with the Régie (or, as I prefer call them, the liquor Vogans), we finally have a liquor license. After easily more than fifty calls we finally have event insurance for a building that isn’t technically open yet. We’ve jumped through all the hoops involved in planning an event in a found space, in both French and English. With more than a 1000 emails under our belt we’re practically bureaucratic superheroes. I’ve come to the personal realization that the character trait in myself that most explains my career path is tenacity. In the whole history of ArtHere! there has really only been one “no” I couldn’t change. Oh Redpath Museum, when will you relent?

Beyond Our Fourth Wall, March 14, 2012

A young couple in their 30s, in love, new home.They have it all. Or so it seems…

April 4 – 7

Cannibales

Espace Go

Theatre…en français

by Estelle Rosen

L’histoire du roi Lear

Mar. 13 – Apr. 7

Théâtre du Nouveau Monde

A cold winter morning in February, Madeleine reads about Chinese journalist Yu Dongyue liberated from prison after 17 years.

Je pense à Yu

Apr. 3 – 28

Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui

When the shock of class distinction turns tragic.

Les Bonnes (Jean Genet)

Mar. 27 – Apr.28

Théâtre du Rideau Vert

After Dark, March 13, 2012

What a Week!
Canadian theatre rides the cyclone
By Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Jayzus, I had a really juicy rant all ready to go, this week, but the news - so...much...news - put me on a CharPo and emtional rollercoaster and now - as I write this (hours before the goddam time-change) I am feeling insanely bleery.

I got on the funride when Manitoba Theatre Centre announced its season and there it was, screaming in my face, Ride The Cyclone was part of their season. Ride the Cyclone is a hugely successful musical, little in size but - I have read everywhere - huge in heart. I had heard rumours that Cyclone was going to pop up as part of big-house seasons and the MTC announcement boded well for - maybe, perhaps, I hope - a presentation in Montreal where I could see it. (No news yet, on this score.)

The Sunday Read: First-Person - Rahul Varma on State of Denial

State of Denial: In memories of grandmothers who lived to tell 

© Rahul Varma, March 11, 2012

State of Denial is about Sahana, a Turkish Muslim woman in her nineties, who has devoted her life to assisting Armenian survivors of genocide, and about Odette, a twenty something Rwanda-born Canadian filmmaker, who travels to Turkey to investigate stories of genocide. These two women differ in their nationality, ethnicity, religion, cultural background and age – but they have one thing in common: A well-kept personal secret, which if uncovered, will change their life forever. Initially, the two women are suspicious of each other. They question and quiz, comply and compete, and challenge and contradict each other – and in so doing, they become the best of friends. On her deathbed, Sahana reveals her chilling secret to Odette and Odette promises to make Sahana’s secret public at any cost. On her mission to make public Sahana’s secret, Odette ends up revealing her own. With that a denial ends and a new life begins. 

Tour Whore by Cameryn Moore

“THE DEERINATOR”

Hmmm. <sniff> I’m pretty sure that’s Frappucino.

by Cameryn Moore

[Publisher's note: Today we are launching a new column by actor/writer Cameryn Moore, a star of the North American Fringe circuit. Enjoy!]

Some people spring-clean their homes. I spring-clean my car. 

It’s a ritual now: take the car to the self-service car wash, give it a nice wash and dry, and then excavate down to the tattered original carpeting. Together with Cid (my good friend and occasional roadie), we pull out two bags worth of detritus from the previous year’s tour. Prop bags, kitchen bags, laundry bags. A mountain of Canadian pennies plus the occasional loonie (ooh!), a half-full box of blank Phone Whore postcards, two broken umbrellas—better salvage that red fringe—countless plastic wrappers from around bottles of Starbucks frappucinos and a bottle of cough syrup and old programs and a baseball hat from the Calgary Fringe and tampons that fell out of their box so long ago that the paper wrapping is shredded and they’re starting to soak up whatever spilled on the floor back there. Hmmm. <sniff> I’m pretty sure that’s Frappucino.

Theatre For Thought, March 10, 2012

THE BECHDEL TEST AND CANADIAN THEATRE

joel fishbane

Things are never easy for the actress over forty. For decades now, the archetypes for female roles have remained relatively unchanged: older women are either harpies like Queen Margaret in Richard III or some variation of Mother Nurture (the Saintly Relative, the Wise Woman, the Helpful Teacher etc.) whose wisdom helps the central character towards self-actualization. Rarely are we invited to explore these characters on their own terms. 

Review: The Game of Love and Chance

Gemma James-Smith and Gil Garratt (photo credit: lucetg.com)

Marivaudages

A play brought back to greatness

by Chris Lane

Once in a while a modern adaptation of an old text comes along that is both fresh and classic, and Centaur Theatre’s production of The Game of Love and Chance manages to be just that. The play was written in the 17th century by the French master Pierre de Marivaux, who is particularly known for the unique way he manipulates language. Local playwright Nicolas Billon has recently written a new translation of the work, and he succeeds at maintaining the playful wit of Marivaux’s words while making the language modern and accessible (and of course, English). The director, Matthew Jocelyn (artistic director of Toronto's Canadian Stage - where this production is headed), shows his expertise in adapting Marivaux’s work in this uproarious production.