In Stage Centre Productions’ production of Harvey, director Steven Jackson re-imagines the classic 1940s comedy as a Buddhist text. For me, this change in delivery and pacing makes the madcap comedy dull and unfunny more often than not.
Still, the audience – myself included – did manage to find a few hearty laughs in those parts of Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize winning text that did hit the mark.
The set of Brimstone and Treacle was positively quaint in the middle of the small Sidemart Theatrical Grocery. It was as if set designer Rachel Forbes stole a living room from 1960s Britain and propped in front of me. It wasn’t a set, but a real home. If only I had been invited in for tea. I would have to be satisfied with sitting only a few feet away and watching.
Brimstone and Treacle was written by the late playwright Dennis Potter. The play was originally made for the BBC’s Play for Today series in the early seventies. The play was considered too shocking and was banned from the series. Even now, even though the content is not too controversial to be put on stage, it can still be called shocking. If I had pearls to clutch, I would’ve clutched them. Even with my dark imagination, I did not expect the direction the show went to. Boundaries were definitely crossed.
Continue reading Review: Brimstone and Treacle (Precisely Peter Productions)
Outside the March presents a musical about everyone’s favorite yellow-skinned family — The Simpsons — in Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play. The production features favorite characters, classic lines, music, and yes is “post electric” in that the entire show is done without the use of standard lights.
The concept has taken Toronto by storm. Everyone is talking about it and filing into the Historic Aztec Theatre en masse. It should be amazing! It should be, in a word, ehhhhhxcellent!
Continue reading Review: Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play (Outside the March)
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, brought to radiant life by the Unit102 Acting Company at The Theatre Machine, draws us into a court case—set in Purgatory—for Jesus Christ’s infamous betrayer. He’s been damned to Hell for handing the messiah over to the authorities and then hanging himself. Continue reading Review: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Unit 102)
We’re always on the lookout for budget-friendly shows. Check out these five shows all with admission prices under $25 (some are even free!)
Continue reading Cheap Theatre in Toronto for the week of May 12, 2015