Classique(s)

What is a classic? Why is one play still performed while another snores away under the thick blanket of Time? A joyful mix of ideas about the works we call “classics,” this show is both eloquent and irreverent (and perhaps even a little provocative). It’s about observing the immutable Time to understand the disruptive Now.

Mani Soleymanlou has set aside autofiction and identity-based issues for a bit to focus on his preferred form of expression: the theatre. He asked the formidable thinker and playwright Fanny Britt, along with a brilliant team of performers, musicians and designers, to dare to play unabashedly with the showy material we call classics. Is there a tried-and-true formula to create one? Is Tit-Coq one? And what if the Honorable Steven Guilbeault were sort of like a Canadian Hamlet?

Despite its playful appearance, the play is serious. In it, we discover an authentic desire to offer those of our era the luxury of having distance to contemplate ourselves. Onstage Phedra, Andromache and other ghosts of the theatrical past are invoked so they can come offer live commentary on the chaotic social, political, economic and artistic game that is now being played out in our collapsing world.