Barbaric Cultural Practices – The Musical

Quondam Dreams—Asper Centre for Theatre and Film

This sci-fi dark comedy flips our society on its head in an alternate universe where Harper has been made Prime Minister for life. If that’s a scary thought to you, the rest of this musical may not be for you. The play revolves around the head of the barbaric cultural practices and his family. He is in charge of shipping anyone off to Quebec who might threaten Canada’s wholesome Christian state. The songs were not bad even if they were a little repetitive. The cast have decent singing voices and harmonize really well with each other.

I found myself really enjoying the songs but not the content of the musical. I consider myself to be a pretty liberal person but even I was uncomfortable the majority of the play. The musical uses sexual assault on the male protagonist to move the plot along. His ability to say no or stop is taken by the family members and this is all done through song. There is also a depressingly realistic scene in which the head of his family has his way with a Muslim servant girl. The dialogue in the scene was highly disturbing to me and made me want to leave.

I am glad that I stuck around as the final scene and song totally redeemed the production for me. I liked that they addressed how barbaric everything in the play was. They explained the rationale behind what was in the show and let me reflect on what I had just saw. I would not go see this play again and I would not recommend it to anyone who is easily offended. This play was interesting but it a story I probably never need to hear again.

Kaitlyn Kriss