Urban Tales X - an Undead XmasDirected by Harry Standjofski / Music by Standjofski2-Figols
With Danny Brochu, Stephanie Costa, Alain Goulem, Danette MacJay, Michel Perron, Jan Wheeler
Ghosts, goblins and ghastly yarns are the stuff of this year’s Urban Tales, Centaur Theatre’s annual antidote to the excessive warm-and-fuzzies usually associated with the holiday season. For five shows only between December 8 and 17, the tongue-in-cheek event, celebrating its 10th anniversary, features some of Montreal’s best actors telling stories that range from dark and bizarre dark to downright hair raising.
Emile 1976 by Yvan Bienvenue, translated by Harry Standjofski, told by Michel Perron
This morning there’s only silence
The whole house is deep in sleep
The dreams are all bundled up
in the decorated boxes
under the tree
little boxes, bigger ones
in which the dreams
sometimes
are in-verse-ly pro-por-tion-al
You ever had one of those inversely proportional dreams?
They are the best
I Saw Mommy Eating Santa Claus written & told by Alain Goulem
The crowds, the noise, the incessant shopping for things that nobody wants anyway, the force fed glee, the ugly sweaters, traffic, fake plastic trees, the greed of it all… but more than anything, it’s the over indulgence that gets me. I spend so much of the year trying to control myself to be the best me, and then the holidays are here and… and… Christmas is a tough time of year for a lot of folks… but it’s really tough on the Undead.
It’s a Wonderful Life by Alexandria Haber, told by Jane Wheeler
I look at him, I ask him: what on earth is gong on, when Harold, my Harold starts to cry and leans in to kiss Eve.
Whoa!! I am standing right here!
As Harold keeps kissing her, Eve is moaning Oh Santa, Santa!
And all of a sudden it all comes back to me, whooshing in like the cold air, Eve brought in with her, a kaleidoscope of whirling memories. Oh Goodness, my head, my head! I have heard that moan before. The company Christmas Party. The men’s washroom.
Foolish, Foolish Thief by Arthur Holden, told by Stephanie Costa
But I won’t turn you in. I don’t even blame you for coming here. I mean, look around. Have you ever seen such trees? Timeless. Perfect. Standing there in the moonlight, their boughs outstretched, they could almost be human. Any one of these trees would look beautiful in your living room, strung with lights and tinsel. The fact that you’d have to hack it from its roots to decorate your home for a week or two before tossing the dead remnants into the street to be taken away and mulched... well... that’s just how we do things, isn’t it? There’s always a price to pay. Yes. I’ve made up my mind. You can cut down a tree after all.
The Double-Goer by L.M. Leonard, told by Danette MacKay
We also investigated Mary Gallagher, the headless whore of Griffin Town. Popping up every year like a jack in the box, a grudge in her heart and looking for her head. Tricky business. Part of the job is realizing the dead are lonely. They’re talking their asses off and nobody is listening -- and then there are the dead who just won’t let go. Wailing like Banshees, saying “I’m sorry” over and over, but all you hear is a kind of hissing on the wind. Those are the cases that stay with you. The ones you have to let the angels solve.
don’t shout, don’t cry by Harry Standjofski, told by Daniel Brochu
Night after night: I’d collapse asleep at bedtime and then wake with a start for what seemed no reason at all around 3 and my wife would be whispering.
I started to suspect that she wasn't asleep at all, that she was toying with me but my nudging her, her turning over to face the other way would only bring a few minutes of peace and then she would begin again.
Adult $22.00
Senior (65 & older) $18.00
Under 30 (30 & younger) $18.00
Student (valid student ID is required) $16.00
Centaur Theatre Company
