Latest news with #RedLikeFruit
CBC
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
For Hannah Moscovitch, writing her plays is like exploring herself with a knife
Social Sharing It's never easy for Hannah Moscovitch to reveal her most devastating experiences to strangers. Nonetheless, the Canadian playwright says the results are always worth it. "I'm prouder of the plays that I've written where I've taken a knife and I've explored myself," Moscovitch tells Q 's Tom Power in an interview. "I think that they expose truth more clearly." Her latest show, Red Like Fruit, tells the story of Lauren, a journalist covering a high profile domestic violence case. Over the course of the play, Lauren starts to reexamine her own past experiences with men. WATCH | Official trailer for Red Like Fruit: Moscovitch says she understands that #MeToo politics are messy — that's why her show is about asking questions, not telling the audience what to think. "I often want to do plays that leave you with ambiguities," Moscovitch says. "[Plays] that show you nuance and sophistication, and many points of view represented within them.… Especially in a piece like Red Like Fruit. I think a lot of people who have had similar experiences are actually struggling with the fact that it's not right or wrong. Or it's not clear to them. Or they don't know." When Moscovitch began her career, she wanted to make lighthearted entertainment, and she wanted to act. But that was not her destiny — she was raised by ardent social activists, and her drama school teachers quickly spotted that she was better as a writer than a performer. Now, Moscovitch is a Governor General's Award-winning playwright. Many of her works have been acclaimed for offering uncompromising insights into the unspoken experiences of women. She says she wasn't willing to delve into this complex territory at the beginning of her career — it took time to find the courage. "I got braver and I got older, and I got more willing to be vulnerable," Moscovitch explains. "I got willing to, you know, turn my own gaze on myself in a way that I wouldn't have been comfortable with when I was a younger writer." She's glad that she's found a way to push past her fears, and connect with people who need to be heard. "There's something original about anything that has never been spoken," Moscovitch says. "And then there's a whole audience out there that feels so relieved that it's being spoken for the first time. And they love you for it. And you feel good."
Toronto Star
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Luminato Festival 2025: This post-#MeToo drama is subversive, painful and gripping
Red Like Fruit 3.5 stars (out of 4) By Hannah Moscovitch, directed by Christian Barry. Until June 15 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane. or 416-866-8666 A question looms heavy over 'Red Like Fruit,' the post-#MeToo era play by Hannah Moscovitch, now running at Soulpepper as part of the 2025 Luminato Festival. It haunts every line of this taut, 75-minute drama. And it slowly eats away at its audience. Why is this woman's story being told by a man? A man about whom we know nothing. The story at the heart of 'Red Like Fruit' is really Lauren's to tell. An accomplished journalist, she's covering a high-profile case of domestic violence within the Liberal party. But as she digs deeper, interviewing her sources and typing up her investigation, she becomes retraumatized by some long-buried memories from her past. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Lauren (Michelle Monteith), however, doesn't recount her own story. Instead, she writes it up and tasks a man named Luke (David Patrick Flemming) to narrate it on her behalf. As he does, Lauren sits in a chair on a raised platform, listening intently to his words, her words. She mostly wears a blank expression. But occasionally, her demeanour changes. She winces. Or she recoils ever so slightly. Or she gently nods, as if in recognition and in agreement. The setup of director Christian Barry's gripping production almost recalls a jury trial. Lauren sits on the stand, with Luke standing off to the side, acting as this trial's prosecutor. But rather than Luke drawing out her testimony, it's he who's giving voice to it. Michelle Monteith in 'Red Like Fruit.' Dahlia Katz/Soulpepper Luke subtly — perhaps even unconsciously — manipulates Lauren's words. At first, he carries an air of flippancy, even condescension. Then a softer, more sympathetic side gradually emerges. 'Red Like Fruit' is initially disorientating, particularly the decoupling of Lauren's story from her voice, subverting the trope of the unreliable narrator. It's a slow burn, too, with key information delivered piecemeal. But what emerges is so painful and gripping that the audience's patience is eventually rewarded. What makes this new play brilliant, however, is not merely the story itself, but how that story is told. Moscovitch forces her audience to confront their own prejudice. She asks us to question who we believe — and why. Do we believe Lauren's story? Or do we believe Lauren's story only as it's told by Luke? ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Entertainment 10 must-see events and exhibits at this year's Luminato Festival Joshua Chong Simmering underneath the surface of this play are many uncomfortable truths. In particular, I thought about how so many stories of domestic abuse and sexual assault are told in the media by men, who, like Luke, so subtly shape and mould the narrative. So rarely do we hear from the survivors themselves. At its best, Moscovitch's play implicates the audience, as well, interrogating our complicity in the pervasive culture of silence that spurred the #MeToo movement. By the show's conclusion, that overarching question that hangs over the work needs no answer. Why is this woman's story being told by a man? We know why, painful as the truth is.
Scotsman
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh festivals: 12 shows to be performed at Traverse Theatre this August
An 'honest, wicked and moving unpicking' of the character of the pantomime dame is among a range of original performances unveiled for this year's festival programme at the Traverse Theatre. Scotland's new writing theatre said it had unveiled a programme that 'reaffirms its unwavering commitment to discovering, developing and showcasing the most vital new voices in theatre'. This year's TravFest, which is comprised of 12 productions, including ten premieres, deals with issues from climate change to radicalisation and loved ones developing dementia. Other themes include global conflict and dysfunctional family dynamics, while also bringing joy, humanity, commonality and humour. Gary McNair's solo fable A Gambler's Guide to Dying returns to the Traverse ten years on from its sell-out, award-winning debut. Another production is Standing In The Shadows of Giants, a world premiere of an autobiographical musical play written and performed by Lucie Barât – sister of The Libertines' frontman and guitarist Carl Barât. Meanwhile, The Beautiful Future is Coming – an 'urgent' new play about the onrushing climate apocalypse - will span 250 years of real and imagined history through the eyes of three couples, from 1850s New York to present-day London. The new play by Karis Kelly, winner of the Women's Prize for Playwriting 2022, entitled Consumed, directed by Katie Posner, receives its world premiere on the Traverse stage this August. 1 . Standing In The Shadows Of Giants Lucie Barât, sister of The Libertines' frontman Carl Barât, steps into the spotlight in the world premiere of her autobiographical musical play Standing In The Shadows of Giants, directed by Traverse Associate Artist Bryony Shanahan. | Traverse Photo Sales 2 . She's Behind You Director John Tiffany returns to the Traverse alongside Johnny McKnight with She's Behind You, written by McKnight, an uplifting journey exploring our love of panto and the dames that define it. | Traverse Photo Sales 3 . Rift Inspired by playwright Gabriel Jason Dean's relationship with his own brother, a currently-incarcerated high-level member of the alt-right, RIFT is a story of estrangement, ideological divide, and the fight to change the world. The UK premiere is directed by Ari Laura Kreith and is presented by Luna Stage & Richard Jordan Productions. | Traverse Photo Sales 4 . Red Like Fruit A haunting exploration of complicity, consent, patriarchy and trauma in a post-#MeToo world, Red Like Fruit, brings audiences the latest work of award-winning Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch. This European premiere from 2b theatre company from Halifax Nova Scotia, directed by Christian Barry, sees Luke narrate Lauren's life: her fraying mental health and the unease she feels in the world. | Traverse Photo Sales
Winnipeg Free Press
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Moscovitch's drama ‘Red Like Fruit' explores power and memory in post-#MeToo era
TORONTO – A seasoned storyteller whose work often probes the complexities of consent and shades of truth, Hannah Moscovitch seems compelled to search for deeper meanings in both her plays and real life. There's rich significance, she suggests, in bringing her latest meditation on gender and power to a renowned Toronto theatre company once inextricably linked to allegations of sexual misconduct. The celebrated playwright points out that 'Red Like Fruit' hits Soulpepper several years after its co-founder and artistic director Albert Schultz resigned amid allegations of impropriety dating back years. 'They're trying to combat their own legacy,' Moscovitch says of being presented by Soulpepper, in collaboration with the Luminato Festival. Moscovitch's two-hander centres on a journalist whose investigation into a case of domestic violence leads her to reconsider the significance of her own past experiences. Michelle Monteith plays the journalist Lauren, whose doubts about her own memory have her turning to a male character, Luke, played by David Patrick Flemming, to recount her own story back to her. The audience plays witness to Lauren's reaction to hearing someone else present details of her life, a twist on the unreliable narrator trope that raises questions about whose stories get told and whose voice gets heard. Moscovitch, who visited similar themes in her Governor General's Award-winning play 'Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes,' notes her first-ever show at Soulpepper comes after a #MeToo reckoning that included pressure to address long-standing inequities in the theatre world. She credits current artistic director Weyni Mengesha with leading that charge. 'She's entirely changed that institution. I'm so admiring of her programming and her art and I think that she has already completely obliterated any legacy from Albert Schultz,' says Moscovitch. Four actresses sued Schultz in January 2018, claiming he groped them, exposed himself, pressed against them or otherwise behaved inappropriately. Schultz resigned and denied the allegations, saying he would defend himself. The lawsuits were settled that summer with undisclosed terms. Mengesha is equally effusive in describing Halifax-based Moscovitch as a 'brave' artist willing to tackle difficult topics. Mengesha says she flew to Halifax last year to preview 'Red Like Fruit' as it prepared for its world premiere at Bus Stop Theatre, quickly deciding it was important to bring it to Soulpepper. 'She explores things that are tough to talk about, like shame and definitely our own accountability as far as how we believe women or don't believe women,' Mengesha says. 'It's so personal and it's so honest. And what I love about her work is that it's a slow burn in some ways. It's always entertaining and really enjoyable to watch, but the effects of it – you'll be considering it days after.' 'Red Like Fruit' is directed by Moscovitch's husband, Christian Barry, who traces 'a direct line' from its themes to those of 'Sexual Misconduct,' which told of an affair between a married, middle-aged professor and his 19-year-old student. It's currently playing off-Broadway with Hugh Jackman and Ella Beatty. Barry suspects an advantage in being married to the playwright of such charged fare, and he confesses they each have a hard time putting their creative projects aside at the end of the day – work talk will invade conversations at the dinner table or pop up during school drop-off for their son. Such familiarity is especially handy in directing 'Red Like Fruit,' he says, recalling multiple conversations with Moscovitch about her own eureka moments over past encounters. 'There's a lot of unspoken understanding between us about the subtext of what she's writing about. And I think ultimately, when you're sharing things that are this intimately connected with lived experiences, you just want to trust that they're going to be handled with care,' says Barry, artistic director of Halifax's 2b theatre, which marks its 25th anniversary this June. 'And so she has trust in our relationship and in my ability to be able to see not just the text, but the subtext. Not just what's going on, but what it means to her personally and what it means to things that she's lived through that might be similar to what the characters are experiencing.' Moscovitch says 'Red Like Fruit' is not autobiographical but is partly informed by unsettling experiences she's had in a male-dominated creative sphere. 'Having been in the theatre community in Toronto in the 2000s, I would say that a certain amount of sexual misconduct was the price of admission,' says Moscovitch. She says it's taken years to acknowledge and unpack problematic encounters in her own past, which she'd previously laughed off as a joke when recounting to others. 'Culture was informing how we were thinking about our own experiences, and we were both diminishing them and being silenced about them. And I think it creates real confusion, or it did for me,' she says. 'Your first thought is, I'm so lucky nothing ever happened to me. And then you're like, 'Wait a second…. Every experience I've had actually, like, directly contradicts that,'' she says. 'And then you start to go into it – You're like, was that bad or wasn't it bad? Is that just part of growing up? Is that trauma or is that experience?' 'Red Like Fruit' begins with a preview Wednesday and opens Thursday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025.
Hamilton Spectator
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Moscovitch's drama ‘Red Like Fruit' explores power and memory in post-#MeToo era
TORONTO - A seasoned storyteller whose work often probes the complexities of consent and shades of truth, Hannah Moscovitch seems compelled to search for deeper meanings in both her plays and real life. There's rich significance, she suggests, in bringing her latest meditation on gender and power to a renowned Toronto theatre company once inextricably linked to allegations of sexual misconduct. The celebrated playwright points out that 'Red Like Fruit' hits Soulpepper several years after its co-founder and artistic director Albert Schultz resigned amid allegations of impropriety dating back years. 'They're trying to combat their own legacy,' Moscovitch says of being presented by Soulpepper, in collaboration with the Luminato Festival. Moscovitch's two-hander centres on a journalist whose investigation into a case of domestic violence leads her to reconsider the significance of her own past experiences. Michelle Monteith plays the journalist Lauren, whose doubts about her own memory have her turning to a male character, Luke, played by David Patrick Flemming, to recount her own story back to her. The audience plays witness to Lauren's reaction to hearing someone else present details of her life, a twist on the unreliable narrator trope that raises questions about whose stories get told and whose voice gets heard. Moscovitch, who visited similar themes in her Governor General's Award-winning play 'Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes,' notes her first-ever show at Soulpepper comes after a #MeToo reckoning that included pressure to address long-standing inequities in the theatre world. She credits current artistic director Weyni Mengesha with leading that charge. 'She's entirely changed that institution. I'm so admiring of her programming and her art and I think that she has already completely obliterated any legacy from Albert Schultz,' says Moscovitch. Four actresses sued Schultz in January 2018, claiming he groped them, exposed himself, pressed against them or otherwise behaved inappropriately. Schultz resigned and denied the allegations, saying he would defend himself. The lawsuits were settled that summer with undisclosed terms. Mengesha is equally effusive in describing Halifax-based Moscovitch as a 'brave' artist willing to tackle difficult topics. Mengesha says she flew to Halifax last year to preview 'Red Like Fruit' as it prepared for its world premiere at Bus Stop Theatre, quickly deciding it was important to bring it to Soulpepper. 'She explores things that are tough to talk about, like shame and definitely our own accountability as far as how we believe women or don't believe women,' Mengesha says. 'It's so personal and it's so honest. And what I love about her work is that it's a slow burn in some ways. It's always entertaining and really enjoyable to watch, but the effects of it – you'll be considering it days after.' 'Red Like Fruit' is directed by Moscovitch's husband, Christian Barry, who traces 'a direct line' from its themes to those of 'Sexual Misconduct,' which told of an affair between a married, middle-aged professor and his 19-year-old student. It's currently playing off-Broadway with Hugh Jackman and Ella Beatty. Barry suspects an advantage in being married to the playwright of such charged fare, and he confesses they each have a hard time putting their creative projects aside at the end of the day – work talk will invade conversations at the dinner table or pop up during school drop-off for their son. Such familiarity is especially handy in directing 'Red Like Fruit,' he says, recalling multiple conversations with Moscovitch about her own eureka moments over past encounters. 'There's a lot of unspoken understanding between us about the subtext of what she's writing about. And I think ultimately, when you're sharing things that are this intimately connected with lived experiences, you just want to trust that they're going to be handled with care,' says Barry, artistic director of Halifax's 2b theatre, which marks its 25th anniversary this June. 'And so she has trust in our relationship and in my ability to be able to see not just the text, but the subtext. Not just what's going on, but what it means to her personally and what it means to things that she's lived through that might be similar to what the characters are experiencing.' Moscovitch says 'Red Like Fruit' is not autobiographical but is partly informed by unsettling experiences she's had in a male-dominated creative sphere. 'Having been in the theatre community in Toronto in the 2000s, I would say that a certain amount of sexual misconduct was the price of admission,' says Moscovitch. She says it's taken years to acknowledge and unpack problematic encounters in her own past, which she'd previously laughed off as a joke when recounting to others. 'Culture was informing how we were thinking about our own experiences, and we were both diminishing them and being silenced about them. And I think it creates real confusion, or it did for me,' she says. 'Your first thought is, I'm so lucky nothing ever happened to me. And then you're like, 'Wait a second.... Every experience I've had actually, like, directly contradicts that,'' she says. 'And then you start to go into it – You're like, was that bad or wasn't it bad? Is that just part of growing up? Is that trauma or is that experience?' 'Red Like Fruit' begins with a preview Wednesday and opens Thursday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025.
