Is beauty truly in the
eye of the beholder?
Centaur Theatre Brave New Looks entry Extra/Beautiful/U gets extra audience support
By Byron Toben
December 14, 2023
In December 2017, at the annual Infinitheatre Pipeline dramatic play reading series, Extra/Beautiful/U by Michaela Di Cesare was adjudged the winner. It was then directed, if memory serves me right, by the recently appointed new artistic director of the Centaur Theatre, Eda Holmes.
Now, six years later, the play, with some changes, was fully mounted at the Centaur as its Brave New Looks entry. The standing ovation at the end, when I saw it on December 8, proved it a wise choice at both events.
In a nutshell, Lara (Madeleine Scovil) is a popular and beautiful television personality who suffered a disfiguring facial injury after an automobile accident. Reconstruction lay in the hands of an experimental surgery by Dr. Sam Gaguanaly (Cara Rebecca), who had been bullied in high school by Lara.
… the play, with some changes, was fully mounted at the Centaur as its Brave New Looks entry. The standing ovation at the end, when I saw it on December 8, proved it a wise choice…
Complications erupt in the form of Lara’s mother, Angie (Toni Ellwand), and younger handicapped sister, Louise (Stephanie Torriani), as well as a trans volunteer nurse, Beaute (Sean Ryan).
Is beauty truly in the eye of the beholder? All this in a minimal set – one bed, two chairs, four white curtains, a mirror and some flowers – cleverly directed by Caitlin Murphy.
Infinitheatre’s 2023 Pipeline series runs December 14, 16 and 17 with four new play scripts.
Images: Maxime Côté
Other articles from Byron Toben
Other recent articles
Byron Toben, a past president of The Montreal Press Club, has been WestmountMag.ca’s theatre reviewer since July 2015. Previously, he wrote for since terminated websites Rover Arts and Charlebois Post, print weekly The Downtowner, and print monthly The Senior Times. He also is an expert consultant on U.S. work permits for Canadians.
There are no comments
Add yours