Performance

The cast of "The Dictatorship of Debt" rejoice for global capitalism

Last night I was invited to one of three performances of the Social Justice Committee’s (SJC) political play, “The Dictatorship of Debt” at Sala Rossa here in Montreal. The evening began with a performance by Montreal spoken word artist and musician Kyra Shaungnessy who spoke and sang some beautiful but fairly predictable (politically) lefty poems and songs. With lyrics like “Oh Canada, we are dedicated to not caring,” it made me think, boy is this the wrong crowd to be telling that to! Shaungnessy is clearly a talented writer and performer, and her piece about the terrible experience of unexpectedly finding herself on a bus tour of people surviving in a Nicaraguan dump was poignant and touching. But songs about apathy might be better served to a crowd that wasn’t so clearly overwhelmingly part of activist culture already. Still, it was a heartfelt and lovely prelude to the evening.

After the opening performance the play began with a speech from Christopher Columbus, and judging from the costumes and sparse set I had a moment of regret for not doing more research before dragging myself out for the evening. Those cowardly feelings soon subsided however, when I realized I was in for a lively, smart and very funny hour of satirical theatre. The performers, all of whom are volunteer and have other full-time lives, did a remarkable job with lines bordering on economic textbook obscurity. There was indeed so much financial and political mumble-jumble, hats truly must go off to the actors for keeping the ship sailing straight throughout. Click to continue »