Exciting season begins at The Segal

Kristine Berey

Human relationships in all their intensity, laughter and sometimes tragedy take centre stage this season at the Segal.

Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons, based on an 18^th century French novel about "lust, greed, deception and romance" launches the season this month.

A pair of former lovers attempt to seduce and manipulate others around them. But when virtuous Mme de Tourvel becomes the focus of the Vicompte de Valmont's attentions, predator falls in love with prey, with fatal consequences.

October's offering will be the Tennessee Williams classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Greg Kramer. This is the third production in a series of Williams' plays mounted by The Segal. "One of the key aspects of our theatre's mandate is to produce classics that remain socially relevant today," says Bryna Wasserman, Artistic Director.

The season continues with the February production of the Pulitzer Prize winning drama Buried Child, by Sam Shepherd. A long-lost son, Vincent, and his girlfriend return to meet his Norman Rockwell-esque relatives. But bliss is only on the surface in this painful portrait of a disintegrating and dysfunctional family.

March will bring director Diana Leblanc to The Segal in the production of Tryst, a psychological thriller by Karoline Leach about a homely seamstress consigned to the backroom of a London hat shop in Victorian England. With no future to speak of, she falls into the arms of George Love, seducer and robber of desperate old maids. "This is as entertaining a story as you'll encounter," Wasserman says.

As a change of pace, in April, Manitoba Theatre Centre's Artistic Director Stephen Schipper will return for Joe Dipietro's endearing and warm-hearted comedy Over the River and Through the Woods.

"Dipietro wants to know why each generation makes sacrifices for the next, why no future generation can ever fully appreciate those sacrifices, and how both generations can find a balance between holding on and letting go."

In June the Yiddish Theatre will host the first ever International Festival of Yiddish Theatre.

"My mother founded a Yiddish Theatre in Montreal 50 years ago this year and the festival is an opportunity to celebrate this historic milestone," Wasserman says.

The Segal's Yiddish Theatre contribution will be a unique Yiddish version of The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Info: 514-739-2301or segalcentre.org