Opera Atelier is continuing its recent trend of pushing the boundaries of historically-informed early music performance practice by uniting staid, Baroque song and dance with sinuous contemporary ballet and music commissions in The Angel Speaks. The venue for this show was experimental as well, taking place in the Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery in the Royal Ontario Museum. Continue reading Review: The Angel Speaks (Opera Atelier)
Dance Matters presents a series of highly physical and intimate works for Toronto audiencesSeries 2 – Rebel Yells presented by Dance Matters is a collection of highly physical, intimate and thoughtful dance works. Performed at the Pia Bouman School of Ballet, the show contains five pieces, mainly performed through a contemporary dance medium, with the exception of a Kathak Indian solo dance work.
Continue reading Review: Series 2 – Rebel Yells (Dance Matters)
Dark comedy Mules is funny yet tragic, playing at the Streetcar Crowsnest Theatre in TorontoMULES is billed as a dark comedy about friendship and drug smuggling. It is funny but more in the first half of the show. Things get pretty tragic after that. It’s about two women, both of whom have fairly hard lives. Crystal (Eva Barrie) is a single mom, she got pregnant on prom night, who works at a supermarket and is a new mule -a drug smuggler. Cindy (Anita Majumdar) is an exotic dancer, sometime drug dealer, maybe sex worker who doesn’t have a job and owes serious money to her dangerous boyfriend Sully, and is a wannabe trafficker.
The play is about the desperate decisions people will make when they feel powerless and trapped with no way out. Continue reading Review: MULES (Theatrefront in association with Hit and Myth)
Soulpepper Theatre presents a selection of Harold Pinter shorts to Toronto audiencesLittle Menace: Pinter Plays, currently playing at Soulpepper Theatre, is a collection of short works by Harold Pinter that offers up brief yet biting scenarios that manage to be as darkly funny as they are tedious and disquieting. Continue reading Review: Little Menace: Pinter Plays (Soulpepper Theatre)
Choreographer Peggy Baker joins forces with members of Arcade Fire for a multidisciplinary dance showThe world premiere of Peggy Baker Dance Projects’ who we are in the dark is currently being presented by Canadian Stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre. Peggy Baker is one of the luminaries of Canadian contemporary dance. She has had a long career as a performer and as a choreographer, both in Canada and internationally. who we are in the dark is her biggest production to date. The piece is a multi-disciplinary evening featuring innovative movement, music, lighting, and visual art which combine into a feast for the senses. Continue reading Review: who we are in the dark (Peggy Baker Dance Projects/Canadian Stage)