Toronto’s CanStage and Queen of Puddings Music Theatre explore Samuel Beckett’s absurdist plays using Irish classical music in Feck It!
One of the first things you get to see in Beckett: Feck It! is a very phallic-looking device, followed by an actor presenting his bum and scrotum. This isn’t obscene – the actor is wearing underwear – but it is very funny. The combination of lowbrow humour with rather highbrow existentialist concepts is one of the hallmarks of Absurdist Theatre. The humour is necessary comic relief because the philosophy expressed would be too depressing, and the rote repetition of the stage action would be insufferable, without it.
Undertaken by visual and performance artist Shary Boyle and songwriter and performer Christine Fellows, Everything Under the Moon is part of the Fresh Ground new works programme, which seeks artists who don’t normally set out to create child-friendly performances. The result can be described as performance art for kids.
The show tells the story of a honeybee, Idared, and a brown bat, Limbertwig, on an urgent quest to save themselves and their respective species. On their journey they encounter an owl, a man, a woolly mammoth, a mummified child and a top-hat wearing spider. Everything Under The Moon intends to touch on themes of loss, environmental threat, adaptation and the restorative powers of friendship and community.
A daughter’s dance and a father’s life of research combine in Laurence Lemieux’s Pathways of Influence at Toronto’s Citadel
I would have never thought one’s research methodologies in political science could be translated onto the stage through dance. Choreographer, performer and company founder Laurence Lemieux does just this in her innovative dance piece Les Cheminements de L’influence (Pathways of Influence),co-produced by Lemieux and her husband and business partner, Bill Coleman.
Borrowing its title from her father’s published book on political science, Les Cheminements des L’influence,Lemieux creates a 50-minute dance piece honouring her father, Vincent Lemieux, and his extensive and inspiring work in the field of political science. An undoubtedly original piece, Lemieux dissects her father’s theories using intricate contemporary movement, interesting musical compositions, impressive lighting designs, and a newly renovated theatre space in the round (well, more like a square). Continue reading Review: Les Cheminements de L’Influence (Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie)→
Community opera at its best, Toronto Opera Repertoire offers accessible and entertaining shows like the Italian Lucia di Lammermoor
If you’re fascinated by the opera (like I am) but are nervous about a heavy ticket price, not understanding the show and feeling overwhelmed being stuck in a tuxedo, ball gown, opera glasses and stuffy opera crowd (like I have been), then the Toronto Opera Repertoire (TOR) is perfect for you.
Opera – complete with stunning sets, stunning voices, amazing musicianship, costumes and supertitles (projected to the ceiling) combined with the dedication and accessibility of community theatre is what the TOR is all about. Their production of Lucia di Lammermoor playing at the Bickford Centre is a perfect introduction to the world of opera. Continue reading Review: Lucia di Lammermoor (Toronto Opera Repertoire)→
Bad Dog Theatre’s improv shows are now at the Comedy Bar with great shows every week
Bad Dog Theatre used to be at Broadview and Danforth and was known as Toronto’s home of improv. I saw many hilarious shows there, most of which are reviewed elsewhere on this site. So it was very sad when they shut down the venue, at pretty much exactly this time last year.
It wasn’t surprising though. They weren’t hurting for audience, but the space had tiered seating it was ineligible for a liquor license. Not only do booze and comedy go hand in hand, but bar sales are an important source of revenue for comedy clubs.
After only a brief hiatus, Bad Dog’s flagship show Theatresports was up and running again at Comedy Bar (945 Bloor West.) And now, one year later, Bad Dog and Comedy Bar are happily cementing their relationship. Comedy Bar has a new cabaret space that means Bad Dog can have shows even when there is a headliner in the main space. Bad Dog will be staying in Comedy Bar for the foreseeable future. I interviewed Bad Dog‘s Artistic Producer Julie Dumais about the arrangement. Continue reading Bad Dog Theatre Now Permanently Residing At Comedy Bar→
