Marcel Jeannin and Inès Defossé star in this provocative tale that explores the power and consent in the era of #metoo

Centaur Theatre will present a provocative look into the intimate challenges within academia in the #MeToo era, with Sexual Misconduct Of The Middle Classes, written by renowned playwright Hannah Moscovitch, and directed by Eda Holmes. This 2021 Governor General’s award winning play re-imagines the teacher-student relationship in an exploration of power dynamics, consent and exploitation through a plot-twisting narrative.

Jon Macklem is a teacher in the middle of his third divorce. Lonely and ridden with self-loathing, he begins a brief illicit relationship with Annie–his nineteen year old student. Traveling through the complexity of their relationship after the fact, the echo of this pairing reverberates and grows from a rumble to a roar when the #MeToo movement begins to break into the headlines. Sexual Misconduct Of The Middle Classes features two perspectives on the same relationship, asking the question, who owns this narrative?

Centaur Theatre’s Artistic and Executive Director Eda Holmes made her professional directorial debut at Centaur after graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada. She has directed across the country, most notably at the Shaw Festival where she was Associate Director from 2010 to 2017. Her selected credits at Shaw include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Arcadia, Floyd Collins, and Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Most recently she directed Embrasse which opened the 70th anniversary season of the Theatre du Nouveau Monde in Montreal and the dance/theatre hybrid Beautiful Renegades with Peggy Baker Dance projects in Toronto. Eda has won several awards for her work, including Dora Awards for the musical Little Mercy’s First Murder and for the English-language premiere of Michel Marc Bouchard’s Tom at the Farm. For Centaur, she has directed The 39 Steps, The Children and The Last Wife and Alice and the World We Live In.

Marcel Jeannin has performed in theatres across Canada, the United States and France, and is a past member of both the Stratford Festival and National Arts Centre acting companies. For the Centaur Theatre, he has performed as God in Paradise Lost, Karl/Steve in Clybourne Park, Alan in God of Carnage, and Antipholus in The Comedy of Errors. For the Segal Centre: Freddie in Noises Off, Michael in The Secret Annex and Trigorin in The Seagull. For Hudson Village Theatre: Marc in Art. Film and television credits include Three Pines, The Braid, Crisis, Ghosts and 300, as well as the titular voice in The New Adventures of Lucky Luke. He is a frequent guest artist at the National Theatre School of Canada.

Inès Defossé is originally from Paris and from a Franco-Asian family. Inès graduated from the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal in 2020. She played multiple roles in Shakespeare’s Hamlet directed by Florent Siaud, in Small Talk by Carole Fréchette directed by Benoît Vermeulen, and in Le Legs de Marivaux directed by Catherine Vidal.

Hannah Moscovitch is an acclaimed Canadian playwright, TV writer, and librettist whose work has been widely produced in Canada and around the world. Recent stage work includes Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes and Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story (co-created with Christian Barry and Ben Caplan).

Performances continue until November 27. Matinee performances are on Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. The popular Sunday Chat-Up will be on November 13 at 12:30, prior to the matinee.

Centaur Theatre is located at 453 St. Francois-Xavier. Tickets range from $20 – $68, with subscription rates, group rates and student/senior discounts available. Tickets can be purchased at https://centaurtheatre.com/box-office/tickets/ or by phone at (514) 288-3161.