Page 6
July 31, 2019
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
Photo by
C ory W eAver
The Portland Opera presents “In the Penal Colony,’ a play that exposes a nightmarish machine of executions. Now playing through
Saturday, Aug. 10.
A piercing and profound view
of justice and change is behind the
Portland Opera’s presentation of
“In the Penal Colony,” a play about
a man who is invited to visit a penal
colony to observe the execution of
a condemned man at the hands of a
nightmarish machine.
The colony’s officer extols the
virtues of the apparatus, which tor-
tures as it kills, in this piece that the
New York Times calls a “Surreal
The
In Penal
Colony
Exploration of Injustice.” As the fu-
ture of the institution is questioned,
the visitor considers the conse-
quences of meddling, and the of-
ficer grows more desperate to pre-
serve the system.
The play opened Friday and con-
tinues with shows through Satur-
day, Aug. 10 at the Hampton Opera
Center, 211 S.E. Caruthers St. For
tickets and more information, visit
portlandopera.org.