THIS PLAY WINS is a SummerWorks experiment. The company has devised nine scenes built around a combination of acting games, the whims of the performers, and — so far as I can tell — kick-ass titles that demanded a sketch be written around them. But at every performance, audience members are asked to collectively vote a scene off the island: mark your card, single out the weakest piece, and cast it off to the slushpile.
And audience fingerprints don’t end there. Participation is sought at all times and at all levels, from introducing themselves to the audience personally, to — at the end– inviting us to join them on picnic blankets, nibble on an assortment of gummies, and probe what we’ve just seen.
The Emancipation of Ms. Lovely, playing as part of this year’s Toronto SummerWorks Festival, is a fantastic coming of age one-woman story. Through this 80-minute show, you get to know Lovely and journey with her as she explores herself as a young black woman learning to love the different curves of her own body and searches for more meaning and satisfaction out of her sexual encounters.
It’s a story that any woman, especially women of colour, can relate to — in particular when bridging cultural conservatism and expectations with personal exploration and sexual liberation. It’s a story I’m particularly thankful I had the chance to see.
One of the best things about SummerWorks is the chance to experience various types of theatre for a reasonable admission price. Even better, is the fact that there are quite a few double bills on this year’s playbill. That’s right, two shows for the price of one. I had the chance to see Desiccated and LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL 2.0 Saturday afternoon.
And although both productions shared the same ticket, they could not have been any more different.
Return Home, playing as part of this year’s SummerWorks Festival, is a story of two women — one an Indigenous Anshinaabe woman from Quebec (played by Emilie Monnet) and the other an Indigenous Palestinian woman born in exile (Dima Alansari). Their lives and histories become intertwined with the help of Raven (Carlos Rivera), an Indigenous Mixteco from Mexico whose spirit-like presence weaves through both women’s lives. This is a story of what each woman can learn from the other other told in vignettes, movement, projections, sound and music.
There’s a lot to absorb in this 75-minute piece playing at The Theatre Centre, and aside from a few bumps along the way, it’s an intriguing ride.
THIS PLAY WINS is a SummerWorks experiment. The company has devised nine scenes built around a combination of acting games, the whims of the performers, and — so far as I can tell — kick-ass titles that demanded a sketch be written around them. But at every performance, audience members are asked to collectively vote a scene off the island: mark your card, single out the weakest piece, and cast it off to the slushpile.
