Ticket Contest Giveaway: Bad Dress Productions’ Far Away

Mooney on Theatre is giving away a pair of tickets to the opening night performance of Bad Dress Productions’ Far Away, playing at Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation (9 Trinity Street, Studio #313), on Friday, November 8.

To be entered into the draw for a pair of tickets just send an email to contests@mooneyontheatre.com with the subject line “Far Away Contest”  by 7:00PM on Wednesday, November 6th, 2013.

See below for details about the show and how the contest works:

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Review: Where’s My Money? (Sterling Studio Theatre)

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Two couples struggle with a living past and a lifeless marriage in Where’s My Money? at Toronto’s Sterling Studio Theatre

On a cold and rainy night, I make my way down a dark and narrow road to the Sterling Studio Theatre.  I take my seat, surrounded on all sides by an audience of ghouls.  A musician with a pale white face and ratty clothing plays the blues.  The stage is blanketed by fog.  Has this play been hijacked by Halloween revelers? 

The choice of opening night seemed strange to me… until the play began and I realized how befitting it was.  John Patrick Shanley’s Where’s My Money? deals with characters who are haunted. Their past is not dead. Literally. The ghosts of ex-lovers show up to throw a wrench into their oh-so-civilized lives.  Continue reading Review: Where’s My Money? (Sterling Studio Theatre)

Review: You Can Sleep When You’re Dead (TheatreLab)

 

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You Can Sleep When You’re Dead is a collection of haunted house-themed vignettes playing at Toronto’s Campbell House

Very little is known about the history of the haunted house as an attraction or Halloween event. It seems clear that they began to take cultural hold in North America in the late 60s and early 70s, and spread quickly as a fundraising idea during a time of year that fell well between car washes and holiday wrapping paper. The typical experience is base and caters mainly to the adrenal glands – it’s dark, things jump out unexpectedly and shriek. You shriek, the people two narrow hallways over hear your shrieking, everyone is excited and scared.

If that’s the haunted house you’re looking for, don’t come see You Can Sleep When You’re Dead, which is a far more subtle pleasure. Combining sensuality, blasphemy, and storytelling in a well-balanced recipe, the vignettes of the You Can Sleep When You’re Dead, site-specific to Campbell House Museum, are mostly a treat and not a trick.

Continue reading Review: You Can Sleep When You’re Dead (TheatreLab)

Preview: DESH (Akram Khan Company/Canadian Stage)

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A familial story told through dance, Akram Khan brings DESH to the Canadian Stage

He’s known as one of Britain’s top choreographers receiving numerous awards and commissions from around the world. Whether you recognize his name from the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremonies or you have heard about his spectacular awe-inspiring dance shows, choreographer and dancer Akram Khan has become a household name but his journey as a celebrated artist wasn’t always an easy one.

Khan is bringing a very touching and personal story to the Toronto audiences; a story that transports him back to his own childhood and homeland, Bangladesh. The 80-minute solo dance work, DESH (meaning homeland), showcases his complex relationship with his father as he uses intricate fast unique movements to tell this emotional story. Visually and technologically appealing in every way, DESH, commissioned by Canadian Stage, is being premiered at the Bluma Appel Theatre on October 31st and Toronto, you don’t want to miss this!

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Review: The Abduction from the Seraglio (Opera Atelier)

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Toronto’s Opera Atelier presents a stunning production of Mozart’s opera The Abduction from the Seraglio

Although, The Abduction from the Seraglio is not likely to be the first Mozart opera that would come to most people’s minds, it was Mozart’s most popular work in his lifetime. Opera Atelier’s stunning 2013 production of this work served as a potent reminder for modern day audiences as to why this work delighted audiences of Mozart’s time. Continue reading Review: The Abduction from the Seraglio (Opera Atelier)