Aristophanes’ comedy

The Birds

Adapted and directed by Guest Director Yvette Nolan

November 21-23, and November 28-30, 2018

In this updated version of Aristophanes’ classic comic fantasy The Birds, two men, frustrated by the modern world, arrive in the fabled land of the birds seeking freedom and a better way of life. But the men are unable to resist remaking this utopian paradise in their own image, without regard for the inhabitants who already occupy the land . . . . . .

In her playful modern retelling of this story, guest director Yvette Nolan has transformed The Birds to reflect pressing contemporary Indigenous questions about truth and reconciliation.

Combining joyful costumes, humor, dance and music, The Birds takes us on a journey celebrating the diversity of our changing society, while also emphasizing our need to connect to history and to the land in order to move forward together.

Yvette Nolan is the McGill English Department’s Richler Writer-in-Residence for 2018. Nolan is a playwright, director and former artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts Theatre in Toronto. Her theatre practice explores the modern Indigenous experience through the transformative lens of performance.

The McGill University Department of English Drama & Theatre Program is dedicated to providing students with practical theatrical experience.