‘Unholy’ Barbara Gordon, Bahareh Yaraghi, Niki Landau, Blair Williams & Diane Flacks. Photo by: John Lauener

Unholy

By Diane Flacks

Should women abandon religion?

Four female panelists face-off in a wild, whip-smart public debate about religion and misogyny. With opinions flying from a feminist Muslim lawyer, an Orthodox Jewish spiritual leader, an excommunicated nun and a lesbian atheist pundit all in a provocative battle of wits, passion outside the debate fuels fire at the podium, leaving the women, their moderator, and the entire audience to spiral into free fall. Unholy delivers a hilarious, no-holds-barred look at contemporary women in organized religion.

NNNN - Diane Flacks’s probe of religion’s impact on women will make you think...The idea of four women debating God’s worth doesn’t sound like it has much theatrical potential, but with the intellectually engaging Unholy, Diane Flacks has devised a canny piece with a ton of political resonance.

NOW Magazine

★★★★/5 stars - Diane Flacks has written exactly the right play to see right now. [Unholy is] intellectually stimulating and, surprisingly given the subject matter, also very funny. ‘Should Feminists Abandon Religion?’ is the stated question of the play to which Flacks, in this age of political shouting contests, thankfully gives a complex, measured, finely nuanced response.

Stage DoorChristopher Hoile

★★★ ½ stars out of 4…it’s at times moving and, at others, surprisingly steamy.

The Globe and MailJ. Kelly Nestruck

Diane Flacks’ newest play is a grab bag of contemporary references and completely immersed in the social and political conversation of 2017.

Toronto Star

…a battle of scripture interpretation, points of religious and secular law, wit and conscience—conducted with sharp intelligence and humour.

lifewithmorecowbell.com

'Unholy' is a remarkably funny and intellectually stimulating play about feminism, religion and tolerance and serves as a balm to all the hate-based discussion of these topics one encounters nowadays in all forms of media… you can’t help leaving the show without feeling a greater understanding for the differing religious or areligious points of view of others. In achieving that, especially in times like these, Flacks has done an immeasurable service, and one can only hope that her play reaches the widest possible audience.

Stage DoorChristopher Hoile

(Flacks) has managed an ending that to me, at least, was perfect. It was at once open-ended and a satisfactory conclusion, as well as being theatrically powerful.

Mooney on Theatre

Production Details

4 Female

1 Male

95 minutes, no intermission

By Diane Flacks 

Purchase Play Script

October 10, 2019

POSTPONED: Unholy – Great Canadian Theatre Company (Ottawa, ON) April 21-May 10, 2020

February 14, 2011

PAST EVENT: Unholy, Nightwood Theatre & ZoomerLive (Toronto, ON) November 16-18, 2018

December 20, 2010

PAST EVENT: Unholy, Nightwood Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times (ON) November 23 – December 10, 2017

December 5, 2010

PAST EVENT: Unholy – New Stages, The Page on the Stage (Peterborough, ON) September 24, 2017

Production History

Workshop Production, Nightwood Theatre, October 2016.
January 15 – February 5, 2017 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Produced by Nightwood Theatre & Directed by Kelly Thornton.

Bahareh Yaraghi & Diane Flacks. Photo: Tanja-Tiziana

Diane Flacks & Bahareh Yaraghi. Photo: Tanja-Tiziana

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