By Crystal Wood
The story of Jack the Ripper has gone unsolved for 120 years, so don’t expect any answers by seeing this production of Saucy Jack at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. What you will see is a 60-minute exploration of the infamous serial killer that feels more like a lively university lecture than a dramatic narrative.
Continue reading Saucy Jack: Tethersend Productions – 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
By Crystal Wood
On June 21, Playwrights Canada Press launched their collection of Spring 2010 titles at the Rivoli, which included readings from the playwrights in question.
The evening was hosted by Jon Kaplan and Susan G. Cole (NOW Magazine), who provided brief intros of the nine writers featured. They were, in order, Daniel MacIvor’s One Voice: House and Here Lies Henry, Andrew Moodie’s Toronto the Good, Damien Atkins’ Lucy, David Yee’s Lady in the Red Dress, Anusree Roy’s Pyaasa and Letters to my Grandma, Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman’s Scratch (represented at the launch by actress Monica Dottor), Robert Chafe’s Afterimage, Brad Fraser’s True Love Lies, and Ronnie Burkett’s Billy Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden Boy.
Continue reading Playwrights Canada Press Spring 2010 Launch
By Crystal Wood
Before I write this review for Fenstar Productions’ 30 Dates, being remounted at the Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs, let me allow for a little disclosure.
I am a 30-something single woman. My partner for the show, Joanne, is also a 30-something single woman. The main character of 30 Dates is, yup, a 30-something single woman.
We figured the show could go two ways. Either we would find the play to be entertaining, funny and relatable, or we would leave feeling like a sad societal joke ready to just give up and head for the convent.
Thankfully we found it to be the former, so the convent can wait!
By Crystal Wood
There’s something comforting about watching the characters in John Patrick Shanley’s Where’s My Money?, playing at the Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement.
No matter who you are or what your experiences, you’re bound to have a few skeletons in your closet. Or, in the case of Where’s My Money, ghosts. Shanley’s play takes a look at how these ghosts of past relationships can hold us back in new relationships. He presents a series of two-person scenes that seem disconnected at first glance, but are in fact revealed to be closely tied. And while the script really hits you over the head with the ghost metaphor, it does so in an entertaining and powerful way.
Continue reading Review: Where’s my Money? – Alley Co-op
By Crystal Wood
Before there was Sex and the City, there was Theresa Rebeck’s 1994 play Sunday on the Rocks. So, if you’re dying for some booze-fuelled girl-gabbing before the SATC sequel comes out, this play might help to fill that void.
Playing at Bread & Circus (one of this writer’s favourite theatre venues, and not just because you can bring your drinks inside), the play focuses around one fateful Sunday where four roommates discuss relationships, philosophies and fears.
Continue reading Review: Sunday on the Rocks – Robinson Street Productions 2 Co-op