Author Archive
Review: Four At The Winch Quebec (Toronto Dance Theatre)
By Adam Collier
The crowd tittered with laughter at the abrupt sight: one performer riding the back of another, slapping the latter on the bum.
The percussive flesh-on-flesh came after a few minutes of nearly still meditation onstage at the Winchester Street Theatre.
The work, titled Etrange, which was accompanied by bass-y, molasses-like soundscape by Ludovic Gayer, was part of Four At The Winch Quebec. It featured – note the past tense; the show closed March 3rd after a planned run of seven performances – new works by four choreographers currently working in Montreal: Estella Clareton, Lina Cruz, Deborah Dunn, and Jean-Sebastien Lourdais.
Review: The Lonesome West (Toronto Irish Players)
By Adam Collier
Funny Lonesome West plays at Alumnae Theatre in Toronto
Just after they bowed, the crowd applauding Gregory Cruikshank, Katherine O’Brien – and whistling at – Stephen Farrell and Ronan P. Bryne, Mr. Bryne indulged us in a running gag; kicking a stove on stage.
That poor stove …
It takes a lot of abuse in The Lonesome West, which runs until March 10th at the Alumnae Theatre. Foremost perhaps: a garish coat of paint – neon orange – and, an obnoxiously large V on one side, marking the appliance as property of Valene, Mr. Bryne’s brother in the play.
Review: Reasons To Be Pretty (Theatre Bassaris)
By Adam Collier
Reasons To Be Pretty plays at Toronto’s Red Sandcastle Theatre and focuses on relationships and vulnerability
Before the performance began, I turned to the stranger sitting beside me. What have you heard – I asked – about Reasons To Be Pretty?
She didn’t know this work, though she was familiar with other plays by Neil LaBute, the playwright behind Reasons To Be Pretty, which runs until February 18th at Red Sandcastle Theatre. She described Mr. LaBute’s style as gritty.
At intermission, she amended that description. “Visceral,” she said.
Review: The God Of Hell (Unit 102 Actors Company)
By Adam Collier
Unit 102′s take on Shepard’s play The God of Hell impressed in Toronto
A cow was not what I was expecting.
Taped up around the doorway to Unit 102 were posters for The God Of Hell.
On the poster, the title appears in bold, no-nonsense lettering. Above it, an image of perhaps the most docile of animals: a cow.
Review: The Laramie Project (Encore Entertainment)
By Adam Collier
The heartbreaking story of Matthew Shepard is told in The Laramie Project at Toronto Centre for the Arts
Matthew Shepard was found tied to a fence post in rural Wyoming, face caked with dried blood.
Under his eyes, some of the blood had washed away – it appeared as though Mr. Shepard had been crying, a witness noted.
The Laramie Project – playing until February 5th at the Toronto Centre for the Arts – attempts to put the kidnapping and beating that left Mr. Shepard for dead into some context.
Review: Other People (Mutual Friends in collaboration with Mercedes Grundy)
By Adam Collier
The first thing my theatre partner said at intermission was, “I lovvve the actor playing Petra!”
Well, no – that’s not quite true. It was, “Yesssss!”
That was her beaming reply to whether she was enjoying Other People, onstage until January 28th at the Tank House Theatre at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.
Review: Henri Fabergé’s Heligoland Follies (Stages)
By Adam Collier
With a grin, he brags to Regina of blow-drying a shirt.
The two are on a desert island, the setting of Henri Faberge’s Heligoland Follies, which was performed Thursday, January 12th at the Hart House Arbor Room.
“With your mouth?” asks Regina, referring to the blow-drying.
“Yes,” he says. “How do you do it?”
Review: Alice In Blunderland (Panto Players Co-op)
By Adam Collier
Our guesses were way off.
A pantomime is neither strictly for children, nor a miming performance.
Exhibit A is Alice In Blunderland, a pantomime playing until this Saturday – January 7th – at Red Sandcastle Theatre on Queen Street East, near Logan.
Review: Feed the Birds (Quality Slippers Productions)
By Adam Collier
Tired, she said, of people referring to her only as a “singer-guitar playing girl,” Ronley Teper slid on a sock puppet.
The puppet then led Ms. Teper’s band through a song. After which Ms. Teper played guitar, as the band – Her Lipliners – worked a chorus of sock puppets to accompany her.
Review: Impromptu Splendor: A Very Mamet Christmas Special (National Theatre of the World)
By Adam Collier
Phone on the floor. Scattered papers. Empty alcohol bottle on the desk.
The scene onstage at Theatre Passe Muraille this past Sunday resembled something out of a David Mamet play.