Review: A Hand of Bridge & No Exit (Soup Can Theatre)

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Soup Can Theatre’s double bill A Hand of Bridge & No Exit an exciting pairing for the Toronto Stage

Soup Can Theatre made an apt choice in pairing the “micro” opera A Hand of Bridge with Sartre’s No Exit. This seemingly loosely connected double billing of an opera with an existentialist play turned into an intuitive match in the interpretive hands of A Hand of Bridge director Pratik Gandhi and No Exit director Sarah Thorpe.

Not only do the two sixty-ish year old pieces share a contemporary relevancy, but their juxtaposition makes this relevancy more urgent. Continue reading Review: A Hand of Bridge & No Exit (Soup Can Theatre)

Review: Swan Lake (Ballet Jörgen Canada)

Ballet Jörgen Canada brings the timeless classic Swan Lake to the Toronto stage

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It isn’t often that I get to watch classical ballet anymore. It was a treat to get to attend opening night of Ballet Jörgen Canada’s Swan Lake at the Betty Oliphant Theatre on Wednesday night. There’s something very nostalgic for me about watching these traditional stories come to life. It makes me feel like a kid again.

For anyone that doesn’t know the story of Swan Lake, it is your traditional boy-meets-girl tragic love story, just with some added magic and allusions to beastiality for pizzaz. Prince Siegfried is told by his mother that he must choose a bride to wed. Upset by her demand he goes hunting and comes across a flock of swans. As he aims to shoot, one of the swans suddenly becomes a beautiful young woman whom he falls in love with. The young woman, Odette, explains that she is a princess who has been cast under a spell by the sorcerer Von Rothbart. She is destined to be a swan by day and a woman by night until her true love is found and commits to her forever.

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Ticket Giveaway Contest: NOW Talks with Jason Priestley at Jane Mallet Theatre, St Lawrence Centre for the Arts

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Mooney on Theatre is giving away one pair of tickets to the event NOW Talks with Jason Priestley, happening at the Jane Mallet Theatre, St Lawrence Centre for the Arts (27 Front St. E.), on March 28th at 8pm.

To be entered into the draw for the pair of tickets just send an email to contests@mooneyontheatre.com with the subject line “NOW Talks with Jason Priestly Contest” by 12:00PM on Thursday, March 28th, 2013. Continue reading Ticket Giveaway Contest: NOW Talks with Jason Priestley at Jane Mallet Theatre, St Lawrence Centre for the Arts

Review: Gwen Powers (WORKhouse Theatre)

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Meet the powerful Gwen Powers at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Murraile

Gwen Powers is an intriguing, highly entertaining and Toronto-centric take on the age old problem of a “bizarre love triangle”. Gwen Powers, the character, is like a sunburn. One usually has great fun getting the burn, but the consequences are very painful. Theatre Passe Murraile Backspace isn’t a beach, but it is where Gwen burns two men.

The play is original, fresh, entertaining, fast paced and completely enjoyable. Gwen Powers will make you think, too. Don’t worry. There won’t be a test on this.

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Preview: Paprika Festival

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Toronto’s 12th Annual Paprika Festival for emerging young and local theatre artists

The Paprika Festival, Toronto’s only theatre festival celebrating the work of young and emerging artists, returns to the Tarragon Theatre Extra Space March 27th to April 6th, 2013 with an ambitious programming line-up.

Celebrating its twelfth birthday, the Paprika Festival will showcase work by some of Canada’s most exciting young artists under the age of twenty-one. This year’s Festival features eleven full productions and six staged readings. All productions are original work created by over one hundred young artists selected from every corner of the Greater Toronto Area, and even as far afield as Ottawa.

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