David Fenarrio's Condoville

I went to see David Fenarrio's Condoville tonight at the Centaur theatre and really enjoyed myself. The play deals with an aging group of people living in a working class Point St. Charles neighbourhood that has to deal with living in a co-op that will likely be turned into a condominium development. What's interesting is that the characters were introduced to the world 25 years earlier in Fenarrio's Balconville (1979) and so we are offered a glimpse of their lives years after the first play took place.

Here's a good review of Condoville from Variety.com: Condoville

I think it's an incredibly novel idea to revisit fictional characters and see how their lives have changed after many years. There have been some great movies that have explored this idea recently such as
The Decline of the American Empire (Le Declin de l'Empire Americain, 1986) and its Oscar winning sequel The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares, 2003) as well as Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004).

I'm going to attend some great literary events this weekend in Montreal. Here's what's coming up and I'm planning on performing at the CASE Open Mic so I hope to see some of you Moondoggyites there:

Thursday October 27, 2005

JULIAN BARNES

7:30 pm reading (Atrium, Samuel Bronfman Building, 1590 Cote des Neiges, at Dr. Penfield)

English novelist Julian Barnes was born in Leicester and educated at City of London School and Magdalen College, Oxford. As a journalist he has been a literary editor and critic. His novels have won him numerous awards, including the Somerset Maugham Award for Metroland (Jonathan Cape, 1981) and the Prix Médicis and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for Flaubert's Parrot (Jonathan Cape 1984). He has been nominated twice for the Booker Prize, once for Flaubert�s Parrot and once for England, England (Jonathan Cape, 1998). His many honours include the E. M. Forster Award (1986), and in 2004 he was made a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. He has also written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh. His non-fiction includes a collection of journalism for New Yorker, titled Letters From London (Picador 1995) and a collection of essays on cooking, The Pedant in the Kitchen (Guardian Books, 2003). His new novel, Arthur and George (Jonathan Cape, 2005), is a fictionalized account of a historical case that brought together the lives of George Edjali and Arthur Conan Doyle.

CASE OPEN MIC

CASE (Concordia Association for Students in English) is having their second open-mic event of 2005! It's a pre-halloween spooky spectacular - Thursday October 27th, at the Old Dublin Pub 8:30pm.

Bring your writing and sign up to read for a few minutes.
Wear a costume or come as your fine self.

The theme is EVIL. We will be giving out Prizes for best scary costume, raciest costume, and best scary story.

Free candy! and no you don't have to say trick or treat
and the second edition of the 'case brief' newsletter will be available at the event.

Sunday October 30, 2005

COACH HOUSE BOOKS FALL LAUNCH - MONTREAL EDITION

Join us for the Coach House Books Fall Launch - Montreal edition. Featuring readings and shenanigans by Howard Akler (The City Man), Adrian Michael Kelly (Down Sterling Road), Brian Joseph Davis (Portable Altamont), and special local guests. Hosted by the inimitable Jon Paul Fiorentino.

30 October, 8.00 pm
Mile End Cultural Centre Green Room
5390 St-Laurent Blvd
Montreal
Free