CharPo's Picture of the Week, March 24, 2011

The simple, clean and nevertheless enigmatic poster for McGill's The Alchemist

Review: Attempts on Her Life

An Intriguing Experiment 

by Valerie Cardinal

Who is Anne? Is she a porn star, mother, suicidal artist, terrorist, girl next door, new car? 

These are the questions that Martin Crimp’s Attempts on Her Life never answers. Attempts on Her Life is by no means a play in the traditional sense, as it has no plot or central characters. The performance is composed of 16 vignettes about Anne, a character with many incarnations who is never present on the stage. In fact, Anne is less of a character and more of a concept.

Interview: Renée Hodgins (director, Kiss of the Spider Woman

Rehearsal shot of Kiss of the Spider Woman with Zara Jestadt (unmasked) (Photo credit, Eric Chad)

(This article is a result of CharPo's partnership with Upstage: Theatre on Radio on CKUT)


by Estelle Rosen

Renée Hodgins has been a member of the Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society (AUTS) for approximately three years. Asked about the origins of AUTS, she replied. “…at the time there weren’t a lot of opportunities for anglophone musical theatre in Montreal, particularly at McGill. We do have Savoy Society focusing on Gilbert & Sullivan but not many opportunities for contemporary musicals. I love musicals. But what I’m really drawn to are musicals that have something to say. I respect Guys & Dolls but that doesn’t have the kind of message that engages me. I like presenting theatre with rich material.”

When asked if she thinks Kiss of the Spider Woman falls into that category, she replied. “Yes. The historical aspect, its timeless universal issues as social justice, relationships,  torture, executions are issue sadly relevant today.Theme of story is conflict between personal emotions, relationships and desires versus political idealism and activism.”