Formed in 1991, The Other Theatre is dedicated to performance that explores the tension between the individual and the collective experience. We examine how everyday acts of kindness and cruelty are reflected in the larger political and social context of our society. We try to present work that is complex and engaging, whether it is adaptations, installations, theatre texts, or collectively written material. We seek a dialogue with our audience that while political, is free of political didacticism and easy solutions.

Our work involves a detailed approach to the text and to its physical expression and a conceptual approach to the space in which the text is performed – we choose our venues specifically for how their architecture fits our pieces.

The Other Theatre is a hybrid group that performs in English, French and bilingually. Our collective creations have tackled subjects from fractals to fascism, physics to pop culture, television to terrorism and have taken place in theatres, warehouses, a moving elevator, and a shopping mall window. The company has been invited into the seasons of many Montreal venues, both English and French, (Centaur Theatre, Espace Libre, Théâtre Prospero, The Segal Centre for Performing Arts, Galerie Oboro, the SAT, Montreal arts intercultural) as well as being a participant in the Festival de Théâtre des Amériques at Théâtre La Chapelle.

Apart from our creation work, we have also performed the work of important writers such as Fernando Arrabal, Peter Handke, Heiner Müller, R.W. Fassbinder, Sarah Kane, Kurt Vonnegut, Wallace Shawn, and Greg MacArthur – giving some their French-language premieres in Quebec.

From the straight-up to the avant-garde, The Other Theatre is a think-tank for performance, where we discuss and propose political theories, improvisations, and experiments from places “other than theatre” – physics, architecture, film, visual art and dance – to try to illuminate what makes the live medium of theatre necessary and pertinent.