REVIEWS

State of Denial
by Rahul Varma

“State of Denial is by far Raul Varma’s best work as a playwright since Bhopal. Most astonishing is that he has mastered the voices of women in crises and in extremis with elegance and poetic savagery. This is a painfully difficult play to produce, but Teesri Duniya has taken the challenge”  Anna Fuerstenberg, The Rover

“ Varma’s writing and pacing here has never been sharper or more layered...The problem in producing a work on genocide is, once the lid of horrors is pried open—mass rapes, killings and the smiling savagery of the perpetrators—how do you keep from overwhelming and numbing the audience? Varma and Forde accomplish it by focusing on human actions and human motivation in scene after scene of compelling and complex theatre. Towards the end, the wizened Sahana gives the story its coda, “They killed my people because they hated them. I do not want to be like them.”  Neil Boyce, Montreal Mirror

“File it under "highly worthwhile." Teesri Duniya is a theatre company like no other on the planet. You have to love it for its idealistic intentions.”  Pat Donnelly, Montreal Gazette

“ Varma’s work will not be easily forgotten, and it is an important exercise in raising awareness of the story of the Armenians in Turkey. This play humanizes this part of history, and shows us how, in the words of Sahana, “hatred is an acid that will burn through its container.”  
Chris Lane, Charlebois Post

the poster
by Philippe Ducros, Translated by Shelley Tepperman

" a week after attending Teesri Duniya’s The Poster at Le Bain St. Michel I still find myself debating the issues it raised, as well as its merits, with others who have also seen it.”  Pat Donnelly, Montreal Gazette

Encounter
a dance theatre piece by Aparna Sindhoor and Anil Natyaveda. Text by SM Raju and Aparna Sindhoor, with Rahul Varma

“ you can't beat a work which posits that theatre is redemptive for sending you into a brisk spring night warmed, a little dazed, and a better person for having seen it.”  Gaëtan L. Charlebois, Charlebois Post

truth and treason
by Rahul Varma

“…playwright Rahul Varma doesn’t spare anyone from criticism. Just as Americans are depicted as war criminals, Iraqis are depicted as a nation locked in a civil strife, torn between religious pride and a desire for peace and stability.”   Walter Joseph Lyng, The Suburban

“ Truth and Treason [is] a new play about the War of Terror in Iraq that is not only engrossing but will leave you thinking once the lights come up.”

“ [The] panel discussions…makes Truth and Treason not only an enjoyable play but an important forum for open dialogue.”

“…in an explosion, the lights blasted onto the audience, making you feel more like a participant and less like an observer.”
  Adam Avrashi, The Concordian
“ The story is told through 30 short scenes, each taking place on a sparse stage where military tarps serve as a changing and evolving set that alternately conceals and reveals throughout the performance – a symbol of our own knowledge of what goes on in the occupied country.”  Jason Gondziola, The Hour

“ Soldiers, political figures, journalists, civilians and an alleged terrorist interact in a play that proceeds with the tenseness of a ticking bomb.” James Lynch, The Link

my name is rachel corrie
Taken from the writings of Rachel Corrie
Edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner

“ Was it truly murder with intent or was it a heavy-equipment accident akin to recent deadly snowplow incidents in Montreal? Was Corrie as heroic as the tank man in Tiananmen Square? Or did the International Solidarity Movement, of which she was a member, recklessly endanger her life?

There's no denying that My Name is Rachel Corrie is going to give a passionate Zionist heartburn, while offering a heightened sense of self-righteousness to pro-Palestinian leftists. But Teesri Duniya and Neworld Theatre are doing the right thing, offering talkback opportunities during the run.”  Pat Donnelly, The Gazette

a leaf in the whirlwind
by Jodi Essery
Story adapted from Lalithambika Antherjanam writings

“ Dynamic response to broken world (...)Well-designed and beautifully performed, the new show achieves a hypnotic effect through sophisticated simplicity in telling the poignant story of a war-rape victim and her child. The unspecified border conflict is all wars where women's bodies are used as a battlefield.” 
Matt Radz, The Gazette

counter offence
by rahul varma

“ A play that makes a difference.”
 Stanley Asher, Place Publique

“Call it ethnic theatre, call it a message-play, but also call it real and current and in your face. As it spun its tale of an oppressed immigrant man oppressing his wife, it also managed to make the life of a white male critic difficult—it held a mirror up to even the most devout liberal and said, “You still don’t get it”. You don’t see theatre with this kind of merit, in French or in English, very often in this city or any other. It’s gutsy theatre that crawls under your skin and blisters the psyche.”
Gaetan Charlebois, Montreal Mirror

reading hebron
by jason sherman

“Audace, originalité et pertinence.”  Solange Lévesque, Le Devoir

bHOPAL
BY RAHUL VARMA

“Thought- provoking and stimulating… it comes like a breath of fresh air! ”   Sujata B. Shakeel, Hindustan Time

Land Where the Trees Talk
by rahul varma

“… a brilliantly enthusiastic company … Langedijk’s work is a smooth flowing, well integrated piece of theatre that is not to be missed.”
 Miron Galloway, The Suburban

For You Jafroon
a collective creation

"Exuberantly performed . . . deliberately provocative . . . refreshingly defiant work and full of corny jokes, cheeky ditties and good-humoured clowning." Pat Donnelly, The Gazette

Isolated Incident
by Rahul Varma, Stephen Orlov

" Outstanding ... really a triumph for the entire cast, whose performance ran the gamut from comic hilarity to tragic intensity.”
 Oswald Bortolo, The Afro-Canadian

“ Lively agit-prop with a knockout punch.”
 Pat Donnelly, The Gazette

Job Stealer
by Rahul Varma, Helen Vlachos,
Ian Lloyd-George

“I am not only bringing a message, I am taking one back to Ottawa.”
Robert Layton M.P.
(delivering a message from the Secretary of State)

Divided We Stand
a collective creation

"Rings loud, clear, and very funny ... best reflects what Canadian society may be tomorrow."
 Pat Donnelly, The Gazette