Review: Once And For All We’re Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up And Listen

It must be important if I’m coming out of summer retirement to write about it. It is. So shut up and listen. Actually, what I want to talk about is a show called Once And For All We’re Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up And Listen. Catchy, isn’t it? It’s currently playing at Monument-National as part of Zoofest/Just For Laughs.

But what is it? It’s a play with a strong bend towards physical theatre. It’s performed by a dozen teenagers. It’s actually about adolescence. But what is most unusual about Once And For All is that it makes no patronizing attempt to moralize. It is a refreshingly amoral take on adolescence. It makes no apologies: it is what it is. You can approve or disapprove, but in the end it won’t matter much.

Though the show comes to us all the way from Belgium and the performers are Flemish, they always make an extra effort to adapt it for the audience wherever they’re playing; so the show in Montreal is bilingual, in English and French. The 25$ ticket price might seem a bit steep for some but, when you think about it, it’s what you’d pay to go see a couple of shitty movies and Once And For All has the added benefit of being fucking amazing. And it’s playing for the last time tomorrow (that would be Sunday), July 26, at 6 and 9pm, so you better shut up and listen now or forever live with regret.

For more information:
http://www.zoofest.ca/#/ONCEA
http://www.ontroerendgoed.be/pubersengfr.php
Monument-National: 514-871-2224