A tale of biblical proportions, The Firehall Arts Centre presents The Biting School’s Cain and Abel from October 3rd to October 6th.
Directed and performed by brothers Arash and Aryo Khakpour, Cain and Abel explores the idea of jealousy and sibling rivalry, which leads to fratricidal violence, fueled by the patriarchal society we inhabit.
Inspired by the biblical story of Cain and Abel, the first sons of Adam and Eve. The former, a farmer, and the latter, a shepherd, who meets a tragic end at the hand of his jealous brother.
Performed in two parts, the first half of the production studies the depiction and sensation of killing one’s brother in different contexts, and is highly physical, aggressive in rhythm and stereotypically masculine. The second half of the performance presents a reaction to the absence of women from the biblical story. Inspired by Jean Genet’s The Maids, this second act is a study of Cain and Abel as two sisters.
The Firehall’s Artistic Producer Donna Spencer says, “When I consider the Cain and Abel story now, it serves as a metaphor for the jockeying for power between governments and global corporations, and how in that jockeying to control territory, resources and social values, their choices lead to violent confrontations, collapse of local economies, and displacement of thousands of individuals. With this production, The Biting School explores both the traditional story and the possibility of what might have happened had Eve given birth to daughters and encourages us to ask the question: would our current reality indeed be different if Cain and Abel had been born female?”
Cain and Able plays at 8pm, Wednesday, October 3 to Saturday, October 6, 2018 at The Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova St. Tickets are available online from firehallartscentre.ca/onstage/cain-and-abel/