When playwright and actor Adam Kelly Morton first wrote and performed his one-man play, The Anorak, in 2004, it was a raw look at the Montreal Massacre at École Polytechnique through the eyes of mass killer, Marc Lépine.
To mark the 35th anniversary of the event that forever changed our city, Morton is remounting his critically acclaimed play, but with a powerful and courageous twist. For the first time, the role of Lépine will be played by a woman, actress Lisa McCormack.
In this 90-minute monologue, McCormack faces the audience—separated between men and women—as the killer, recounting his difficult and often violent childhood and the circumstances leading up to the shooting on December 6th, 1989. Explaining but never apologizing for Lépine’s actions, The Anorak culminates in the massacre from the shooter’s point of view, leaving us to wonder how this event was ever allowed to happen in the first place.
The casting of Lisa McCormack may seem counter-intuitive, but the effect brings the play to a whole new level. Lépine believed feminists ruined his life, and having a woman play his role is an incredible act of feminism—a way to take back power and reclaim the story.
As the audience, we’re no longer watching a man take on the role of another man, but a woman performing behind Lépine’s mask of violence directed toward women. We recognize that McCormack herself is a victim too, and her powerful performance is underlayered with a compassion and empathy for the women Lépine killed, as well as all the peripheral victims of his final act.
The result is a play that tackles not only the motives of the killer himself but also the rippling effects it still has, 35 years later.
The Anorak is playing at the Monkland Community Centre until December 8th. Tickets can be found here.
Note: This play depicts acts of extreme violence, violence against women, sexual and other adult themes. Viewer discretion strongly advised. For mature audiences only.
