di Liana Cusmano, Poeta – Collaborazione speciale

“At the Beginning of Time,” the autobiographical story of a middle-aged gay man, Michael, is a masterful blend of humour and heartbreak that sees Michael and his friends Pat and Lou arguing, commiserating, laughing and reminiscing as gay men who came of age in Montreal in the 1970s. The Italian Sunday dinner, Chabanel street, Eaton’s, Pius X – the play is a love letter to the Italian-Canadian’s experience of Montreal. The older generation of queer Italian-Canadians may recognize themselves in this play – in the 70s hits Michael plays from his phone, in Lou’s refusal to be ‘politically correct,’ in Pat’s frustration with ‘millennials’. For the younger generation of Italian- Canadian queers, the play is an echo of stories they may have heard from their parents, but also a history lesson from their queer elders. Michael is afraid that, even today, revealing himself as John’s husband will jeopardize the latter’s care in a CHSLD, where he lives with advanced dementia. The AIDS crisis looms large in the conversation, a reality that the younger generation has not known. Galluccio’s play is thus an ode to queer history, to home. It is about love – love between families, between partners, and between friends.ccio’s pl

Foto fornite da: Centaur Theatre