The summer is just over the horizon, and with it has come a storm of new and exciting theatre. There’s so much opening this week that it took me twice as long as usual to compile these shows! This week, Megan is here to let us know what she’s most excited about! Check out her picks in red under the cut. Continue reading Playlistings in Toronto for the Week of April 25th
This is Shakespeare like you’ve probably never seen before. Part drinking game, part classical theatre, Shakesbeers Showdown: The Bard Awakens pits bard against bard to see who can deliver the best cold read of Shakespeare’s most noted works – all while downing a cold pint every time the mess up a line. Hilarity is sure to ensue. The best part? It’s all for a good cause, benefiting the Shakespeare-In-Hospitals Program that strives to break down physical, social and economic barriers in the healthcare/nursing sector through the use of classical performance theatre.
Get your tickets now, because this theatrical spectacular is on for one night only: Sunday, April 24th at The Rivoli (334 Queen Street West).
We had a chance to chat with Victoria Urquhart, show host and Artistic/Executive Director of the Spur-Of-The-Moment Shakespeare Collective.
Reckoning explores the effects of the Residential School system at Toronto’s Theatre CentreArticle 11‘s Reckoning, on now at The Theatre Centre, is the kind of show I wish was on a huge, mainstream stage. It’s the kind of show everyone living on this land should be required to see in school.
Reckoning is a triptych, telling the story – within three stories – of Canada’s violent, racist Residential School system, and the residual effects that system still has on everyone – especially those who survived it. It’s not easy to watch, but it feels very necessary.
Dead Roads, now playing in Toronto, is ” like a dream, disjointed and unreal.”The only description given for Dead Roads (presented by The Dead Roads Collective) was: “Something strange is happening in small town Alberta.” That sentence could describe a quirky comedy or a riveting mystery, but the tone felt ominous as the lights of the Theatre Centre suddenly went down and the audience was plunged into darkness.
The theatre rumbled with a sound that sent the hairs rising at the back of my neck. It sounded like the roar of a great turbine or like a rocket ship about to take off. It sounded like a flying saucer lowering to lift an unsuspecting loner into a light beam before disappearing into the night. “Strange” was definitely the right description.
HERstory Counts is a collection of seven autobiographical monologues that explores a range of issues from in vitro fertilization to mental health. Artistic Producer Jennifer Neales created the show in collaboration with a diverse group of female performers as a response to the lack of diversity from the creation level in film and theatre. We recently got the opportunity to ask Neales some questions about the production and representation in Canadian Theatre: