Atom Egoyan to present new production

Armenian-Canadian writer and director Atom Egoyan, director of Chloe, is making his return to the theatrical stage with a production for the Canadian Stage for its 2011-2012 season.

The Academy-Award nominated filmmaker will direct his wife, Arsinée Khanjian, in a production of Martin Crimp’s Cruel and Tender. The husband and wife team have previously collaborated on numerous films, but have never worked together on stage.

“This is a wonderful play which is incredibly timely because it’s about the disposing of a tyrant. We see this disposing not from external forces, his bloody and horrific conquests, but from within the family structure itself, from the perspective of his son, his wife, his slave lover, his confidante” said Egoyan.

Atom Egoyan’s previous stage works include Die Walkure at the Canadian Opera Company in 2006, as well as more recent productions in Ireland, London and New York.

Cruel and Tender is scheduled to run Jan. 21 to Feb. 18, 2012 at the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto.