Urban Tales: not your typical holiday stories

For the first time ever, the Centaur will be presenting the English version of <@Ri>Urban Tales<$p>, while the same stories by the same authors will be presented in the French version at La Licorne with a different cast.

The French theatre company actually launched this holiday tradition, all the way back in 1991, with its Contes urbains, prompting an English response.

The 2007 edition of Urban Tales – Holiday Time In The City features tales by well known Montreal playwrights, ranging from the famous, like Michel Tremblay, to those who enjoy a cult-like following in this city, like the über-talented Catherine Kidd.

If truth be told, some of the tales worked their magic on me (Urban Christmas Carol by Michel Tremblay, told by the sensational Claire Shapiro and Crocaine written by Yvan Bienvenue and told by France Arbour were surefire winners) and others (like <@Ri>Whistling ManiacExile's Letter, written and told by Ian Ferrier as he strummed along on his guitar, was a beautiful and engaging piece, it felt oddly out of place in the vastness of the theatre and would have been better suited to the intimacy of a coffee house, which is where I suspect Ian first tested his material.

Dead End, written by Justin Laramée and performed by the delightful Jeanne Bowser, follows a woman, after a torrid one night stand with the man of her dreams that she met at a Christmas party, only to see those dreams of happiness flushed away by the whirlpool of the toilet bowl.

Cringe-inducing, sad, desperate, manic, laugh-out-loud, these tales may not be your regular Holiday fare, but they are real tales; tales we all recognize (or would rather not recognize) as our one own.

<@Ri>Log on to www.centaurtheatre.com or call 514-288-3161 for tickets. Ticket prices are $26, $17 for students and $20 for Centaur subscribers.Urban Tales will be presented December 13, 14 and 15 at 8 p.m.