The Surrogate by Mohsin Zaidi, directed by Christopher Manousos opened in the intimate Studio Theatre at Crow’s last night in a production by Here For Now Theatre. It’s an impassioned piece about the ethics of surrogacy. So let’s look at surrogacy and what Zaidi is trying to say about it. It’s the practice of a couple, usually wealthy, usually male, usually gay contracting with a woman, usually poor, usually vulnerable, often immigrant, to carry a baby that is not biologically hers to term. Surrogacy is legal in forty plus US states but illegal in Canada and, crucial to the play, Louisiana.
Tag Archives: ahmed
Witch! What? Why?
In 1621 one Elizabeth Sawyer, inevitably a poor, old woman, was hanged as a witch in London. A play, The Witch of Edmonton, loosely based on the trial and events leading up to it, hit the boards shortly after. It was a popular success. Now Jen Silverman has taken the framework of that Jacobean tragicomedy and grafted onto it a critique of late stage capitalism. The result is Witch, currently playing at Soulpepper in a production directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster.
New
New, written by Pamela Mala Sinha and directed by Alan Dilworth, is a production by Necessary Angel Theatre Company in association with Canadian Stage and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. It’s currently playing until May 14th at the Berkeley Street Theatre. Now deals with the lives of Bengali immigrants in Winnipeg in 1970/1. The lives of three very different couples are turned upside down by the arrival of the young bride arranged for one of the men by his mother in India.


