By Megan Mooney

Calgary’s Theatre Junction brings On the Side of the Road east as a part of Toronto theatre’s worldstage

On the Side of the Road by Theatre Junction is playing as part of Harbourfront’s worldstage, and the Free Fall festival with the Theatre Centre.

If I had to only choose one word to describe the work, I’d have to say that it’s striking.

First thing I noticed was the brightest stage and set design I’ve ever seen.  The set was filled with lots of white, some glittery silver accents, and ice.  The white was highlighted by bright white lighting.

Walking into the theatre the audience is met by a woman in a sparkling silver dress, sitting on the edge of the stage talking to audience members as they streamed by.  There was also a man on stage working on an ice sculpture.

So, what about the show itself?  Well, it felt to me like it fell somewhere between what people generally seem to think of as a play and what they generally think of as performance art.  There was a narrative, but there was also a lot of stuff that moved outside of the realm of what people expect from a play, like interpretive dance.

Continue reading Review: On the Side of the Road – Theatre Junction, Presented by Harbourfront Centre's WorldStage and Theatre Centre's FREE FALL '10 festival →

By Megan Mooney

Toronto’s Second City 65th comedy revue – Second City for Mayor – delivers a great night’s entertainment

I generally like Second City revues.  They don’t stay with me or anything, but they make me laugh and I enjoy the night, and the opportunity to have table service while going to a show always makes for a good time too.  But this revue – Second City for Mayor, this one was different.  I loved this one.  It’s my favourite Second City revue of the ones I’ve seen.

I was tying to figure out what would make it stand out so much from the previous ones, and I think it’s a big collection of little things.  When I was talking to people after the show, I struck up a conversation with a woman who also really enjoyed this revue and through some round about discussions we decided that this was a far more “theatrical” production than other Second City shows we’ve seen.  I don’t mean theatrical as in bigger or louder or anything like that.  Just more, well, more kind of pulled together, more complete.

Continue reading Review: Second City for Mayor – Second City →

By Megan Mooney

Hard to know what to expect from a show that is billed as a dub aria.  What you get with Obsidian Theatre‘s who knew grannie, now playing at Factory Theatre, is a night filled with beauty.  The characters (and actors) were beautiful, the language was beautiful, the drumming was beautiful, and the signing was, well, something more than beautiful.  Spectacular?  The singing was spectacular.

You may have guessed by now that I loved who knew grannie.  Sam (aka mum) was my show partner for this one, and she also loved the piece.  The only caveat would be that there’s a reasonable chance you’ll cry at some point in the production.  That said, Sam was quick to point out that, although she spent a reasonable amount of time crying, she didn’t feel beaten up at the end.  It was a perfect description.

So often shows that involve a whack of crying on my part just knock the wind out of me.  I walk out of the theatre glad I had gone, appreciating the work, but also feeling completely spent.  I did my share of weeping at who knew grannie, but at the end I felt excited and exhilarated.

Continue reading Review: who knew grannie: a dub aria – Obsidian Theatre company in association with Factory Theatre →

by Leanne Milech

Toronto-based Why Not Theatre has nailed it again – “it” being contemporary, experimental, physical theatre of the highest order; this time in the form of I’m So Close. . ., a fresh re-working of the company’s I’m So Close It’s Not Even Funny, which won a SummerWorks Festival Spotlight Award in 2008.  The revamped I’m So Close. . . is currently running at The Theatre Centre as part of the Free Fall ’10 Festival in association with Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage.

Inspired by Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, I’m So Close. . . centres around Steve (Troels Hagen Findsen) and Stella (Katrina Bugaj), a young couple living in a world of technological “connectedness”.  Steve is an ambitious inventor who’s got the next big eco-friendly product in full production swing, which takes him all around the world on business jaunts as poor Stella is stuck at home watching documentary after documentary to entertain herself.

Continue reading Review: I'm So Close – Why Not Theatre →

By Sam Mooney

This is the final week of The New Ideas Festival at the Alumnae Theatre.  I’m going to miss it – it’s been an interesting three weeks of theatre.  I’ve enjoyed it immensely.

The festival consists of three weeks of new plays selected by a jury.  There are all kinds of plays; some are very short (5 or 10 minutes), and some are about half an hour.  There are also staged readings on Saturdays that are an hour long.

This week’s plays offer the same kind of interesting mix as the past two weeks.

The plays are all presented in the Alumnae Theatre Studio which seats about 80 people.  It’s a wide space but not deep, so the performers are very close to the audience.  There isn’t much in the way of sets.  It’s all very up- close-and-personal.

So what’s in store this week?  Something for everyone.

Continue reading The New Ideas Festival 2010 – Week Three – Alumnae Theatre →