Centaur Theatre goes “hand in hand” as it launches its 49th season line-up

There were many reasons for people to go “hand in hand” with applause at the annual unveiling of the Centaur Theatre’s line-up, which took place last Wednesday (March 15) to mark its upcoming 49^th season, which will go under the theme of “Hand in Hand”.

Roy Surette introduces Eda Holmes (left), his successor as the Centaur Theatre's Artistic & Executive Director

First of all, the gathering of media and members of Montreal’s English language theatre community were applauded by the Centaur for braving the aftermath of the major snowstorm that fell on the city the day before to attend the launch event. Second, outgoing Artistic and Executive Director Roy Surette was applauded for his 10 years of running the Centaur and bringing English language theatre in Montreal to a whole new level (he will be stepping down at the end of May to return to his native B.C.). Third, applause was called for the official introduction of his successor, Eda Holmes, who previously ran the Shaw Festival, but had her theatrical roots in Montreal with the National Theatre School and the Centaur. And finally, there were enthusiastic rounds of applause for the exciting line-up of new shows that will grace the Centaur stage for the 2017-2018 season.

Before that line-up was revealed, Surette announced that the Centaur’s facilities on St. Francois-Xavier Street in Old Montreal will undergo a series of major expansion renovations, starting in January 2018 with the Centaur 2 theatre space, with a projected completion date to coincide with the beginning of the Centaur’s 50^th anniversary season.

The six plays that are part of the Centaur’s 2017-2018 subscription series are a diverse mixture of autobiography, comedy, diversity and even puppetry that will have audiences burst out in enthusiastic rounds of hand in hand applause. It begins with “Playing With Fire: The Theo Fleury Story” (October 3 – 29), in which the Centaur transforms into a hockey rink to tell the story of Theo Fleury (based on his best selling memoir of the same name) and his up and down career as a professional hockey player, from his Metis upbringing, to winning a Stanley Cup championship, to winning a gold medal at the Winter Olympics; Fans of the “Master of Suspense” himself, Alfred Hitchcock, will certainly be pleased with this multi-award winning stage adaptation of “The 39 Steps” (November 14 – December 10), Hitchcock’s classic 1935 thriller film of spies, murder and deception … but this time with a comic twist (it also marks Ms. Holmes’ directorial debut at the Centaur); The world premiere of Pascale Rafie’s play “The Baklawa Recipe” (January 23 – February 18, 2018) is the story of two young immigrant women from Lebanon who settle in Ville St. Laurent during the 1960s, and face a struggle to integrate themselves with the traditional female roles of their native country, as female roles quickly begin to change within the feminist movement during this turbulent period in Quebec’s history; “The Daisy Theatre” (February 20 – March 25), is a puppet show with a risqué slant to it, as Canadian master puppeteer Ronnie Burkett literally pulls the strings with a show filled with some of the most outrageous, out of the ordinary characters ever in the puppetry world, including lounge singer Rosemary Focaccia and Lillian Lunkhead, billed as Canada’s oldest and worst actress ever. Please note that this show is only for adults 16 years of age and over; “Successions” (April 10 – May 6) marks the Centaur debut of Montreal playwright Michaela Di Cesare. This comedy tells the story of two second generation Italian Montrealers – one is a lawyer who is running for public office, and the other is his lackadaisical-minded brother who would rather party than hold a steady job; Originally scheduled for a run during this summer’s festival season, but has now been shifted to conclude the 2017-2018 season, the English-language adaptation of Michel Tremblay’s acclaimed drama “Hosanna” (May 15 – June 10) won four METAS Awards in 2015, and tells the story of a Cleopatra impersonator who returns home from a Halloween party in tears, and later faces his deepest fears and insecurities.

As well, the Centaur will continue its popular series of beyond the mainstage productions, including the Brave New Looks play selection, which for this 49^th season will be Scapegoat Carnival’s production of Sophocles’ classic Greek tragedy “Oedipus” (October 19 – 22); “Urban Tales” (December 7 – 16), Centaur’s Christmas tradition of dark, twisted Yuletide tales told by some of Montreal’s best onstage storytellers; the “hottest two weeks in winter”, better known as the Wildside Theatre Festival (January 4 – 13, 2018), which now begins its third decade; plus the Saturday Morning Children’s Series, and the behind-the-scenes Sunday Chat-Ups and post-performance Talk-Backs.

“It’s been a marvelous 10 years as the Centaur’s Artistic and Executive Director,” said Surette. “And I know I will leave the theatre in great hands with Eda Holmes as my successor.”

For more information on what the Centaur Theatre has to offer for its upcoming 49^th season, or to purchase its 6-, 5-, or 4-play subscription ticket packages, call 514-288-3161, or go to www.centaurtheatre.com. #centaur49.

“You Will Remember Me” gives human face to Alzheimer’s Disease

When I first heard about the Centaur Theatre’s latest production “You Will Remember Me” by Francois Archambeault at last year’s season launch event, I thought it was going to a cosmic, space-age type of production (especially after looking at the play’s poster artwork).

A year later, as I attended an early performance of the English-language premiere of this play (which is now in the midst of its run that lasts until April 2), that space-age theme still clung to me as I witnessed in the theatre’s semi-darkness Eo Sharp’s breathtaking set design, which included a series of tall poles propped up by industrial strength wires. However, after catching the performance, I realized “You Will Remember Me” was not a play that dealt with outer space, but it was quite a cosmic experience, as it gave a powerful, human face to the ravages of the dreadful neurological affliction that is Alzheimer’s Disease.

The play focuses on Edouard (Jean Marchand), a highly respected history professor for a Quebec university, who in an effort to memorize all the names of his students, later realizes that he was in the wrong classroom to begin with. As a result of this little bit of personal confusion, Edouard is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. As he continually denies that he has this disease – yet his family comes to terms with it – the fabric of his immediate family begins to unravel. His faithful wife Madeleine (Lally Cadeau) starts to become unfaithful, as she deposits him to the home of their journalist daughter Isabelle (Johanna Nutter) practically every weekend so she could have a tryst with another man. In turn, Isabelle leaves her father in the care of her latest boyfriend Patrick (Charles Bender), who in turn leaves him to the care of his rebellious teenage daughter Berenice (Amanda Silveira). It is thanks to Berenice – though indirectly – that Edouard comes to terms with a family tragedy that has remained suppressed for over 20 years, which he attempts to do in a series of conversations with Berenice before the ravages of Alzheimer’s takes away not only his life, but the memories he has had through his life, whether they be good, bad or long forgotten.

“You Will Remember Me” marks the directorial swan song of the Centaur’s current Artistic and Executive Director Roy Surette, who will step down from this position at the end of the season. And he has done a masterful job with this choice of play to mark this swan song with the Centaur. It is a highly-charged, highly emotional production that shows one person’s struggle to recapture the memories of their life before a degenerative neurological disease gradually takes them all away in a devastating manner. The five cast members deliver stellar performances all around, especially Amanda Silveira as Berenice, who through a mixture of cockiness, reluctance and sensitivity, manages to do what the other members of Edouard’s immediate family cannot accomplish, and that is to bring out his fondest, cherished – and deeply buried – memories before it is too late.

To purchase tickets for the remaining performances of the run of “You Will Remember Me”, call 514-288-3161, or go to www.centaurtheatre.com.

Alan Zweibel: From $7 jokes to SNL

DALLAS, TEXAS – I was a devoted fan of “Saturday Night Live” through its golden age, which was its first five seasons from 1975 to 1980, where such legendary cast members as Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Jane Curtin and the late John Belushi and Gilda Radner changed the face of late night and comedy television with such memorable characters as the Samurai, the Blues Brothers, Roseanne Roseannadanna, and the Coneheads. In fact, during that five-year-period, I made sure I was home by 11:30 every Saturday night to catch every new episode of 90 minutes filled with great comedy, memorable hosts and unforgettable musical guests (which became the talk every Monday morning with my friends at the Sir Winston Churchill High School cafeteria).

So imagine my surprise when last week, I was chosen to be the lead staff person during a Saturday morning talk session with former SNL staff writer Alan Zweibel, who worked with the show during that golden age, at BBYO’s annual International Convention, which took place last weekend in Dallas.

Zweibel fascinated the standing room only crowd made up of mainly teenage BBYO members from around the world, as he recounted to them his multi-faceted career as a comedy writer. He talked about his comedy influences (which included Mel Brooks and Dick Van Dyke), his rather inauspicious start as a stand-up comedian, and the realization that he could make better money as a comedy writer, in which he began by providing jokes to other comics and talk show hosts, for which he was paid a princely sum of $7 for every joke that was used.

Although he has written for “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, has written several books (including his affectionate memoir of his friendship with the late Gilda Radner called Bunny Bunny) and screenplays, the main focus of Zweibel’s talk was his years at SNL, and offered a lot of great backstage stories of how he came up with some of his best sketches, and the hazards of writing jokes and sketches for a 90-minute live TV show on a weekly basis. My favorite anecdotes included his unusual job interview with Lorne Michaels in 1975 for the job as one of the original SNL writers (he produced a binder filled with 1,000 jokes, yet Michaels hired him on the basis of reading only one of his jokes in the binder); how he sat under the “Weekend Update” desk and grinded out jokes while the segment was on the air, and handed them to the anchors when he completed each joke; the trouble with an out of control horse during a “Bill Murray’s Celebrity Corner” interview segment on Weekend Update with “Mrs. Ed” in 1979; his favorite host (Steve Martin) and not-so-favorite host (Milton Berle); and his constant run-ins with the show’s resident censor.

And Zweibel announced to his admiring audience that he is currently writing two new plays, is about to work on a new season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, and is releasing a book called For This We Left Egypt?, which is a parody of the Haggadah, a prayer book that is used during the Jewish holiday of Passover (and will be the subject of a future review in my Book Banter column). And after the session was over, Zweibel spent about an additional 15 minutes chatting with some of the teen audience members, in which he posed for pictures and offered advice to those who want to pursue a career in comedy and comedy writing. As for me, Zweibel posed for a picture with me, and graciously autographed my copy of Live From New York, the excellent oral history of Saturday Night Live, in which he was one of the many show’s alumni who were interviewed for that book. For a devoted fan of Saturday Night Live’s golden years, it was great to come in contact with one of the people who made that golden age happen.