Theatre Passe Muraille presents a politically driven ‘surrealist vaudeville farce’ on stage in Toronto

Watching “Grab ‘Em By The Pussy” – Or How To Stop Worrying & Love The Bomb, a “surrealist vaudeville farce” presented by Theatre ARTaud in conjunction with Filament Incubator at the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, is like scrolling through the political parts of your Facebook feed. Alternately depressing and satisfying, it provides plenty of stimulation to keep the viewer entertained and feeling outraged, guilty or virtuous. However, after you look up and realize hours have passed, there’s the overarching feeling of emptiness: what have you accomplished in that time?

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The Tragedie of Lear presents a contemporary imagining of Shakespeare’s play in Toronto

The Tragedie of Lear, presented by the eponymous company at the Palmerston Library Theatre, seeks to help audiences connect to the supposedly “modern problem” of how adult children care for their parents, particularly those with mental illness, through the lens of a venerable tragedy.

Because of the age of the actor playing Lear, Walter Borden, the play has an alternate in case of illness. This was the case the afternoon I saw the play. If nobody had told me, I would have assumed Christopher Kelk was the original Lear all along. Surrounded by cast members who seemed to tower over him, he showed a mercurial disposition conflicting with subtle physical degeneration (the production worked with a neurological consultant). Moments of respite remind us that decline is not necessarily predictable or linear. I wish I’d been able to see both Lears for the full experience, but as Lear himself proves to us, time waits for no man.

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how to drown gracefully is “captivating” and “strong” theatre playing in Toronto

Kat, the main character of Becky Tanton’s how to drown gracefully (presented by Filament Incubator at Kensington Hall) spends most of the play getting in and out of a bathtub. She’s having a hard time leaving the water, which represents both a safe haven and dangerous escape. Kat (played by Tanton) wants to drown, though not in a suicidal way, just to disappear for a while. A disastrous love quadrangle has her nursing hurt feelings while confronting her own less than stellar actions. While the navel-gazing angst in the show feels very familiar, the writing made enough of a splash to make me want to wade in.

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Compelling Pets takes to the Toronto stage

The opening night of Pets, presented by Changeup Theatre and Shadowland Theatre, started at a distinct disadvantage. The site-specific piece, set in a garage next to Trinity Bellwoods park, was wracked with winds and rain strong enough to blow over the box office tent. It was an evening suitable for the hardiest of theatregoers, as the play is presented both outside and in an unheated space, with a runtime of about two hours, and an intermission where patrons are asked to stand around in an alley. Nonetheless, those who stuck it out were rewarded with a visually inventive and passionate show about what happens when our furry and feathered friends are forced to make it on their own.

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Lela & Co., on stage at Toronto’s Theatre Centre, is a powerful story of abuse

When Lela (Jenna Harris), the protagonist of Cordelia Lynn’s searing drama Lela & Co., (currently being presented by Discord and Din Theatre at The Theatre Centre), turned thirteen in her small village, her father ordered “the Messiah of Cakes” for her birthday party. The night before the party, a small strip of pink icing went missing, and Lela has been blamed for it ever since.

The story of the cake is told and retold, ever exaggerated, throughout Lela’s harrowing life of subjugation, as she experiences war, abuse, and forced prostitution. A tiny slice of life, it’s nevertheless a symbol both of what happens to a girl who steps out of line, and how the lies we tell ourselves to survive eventually become the truth. Lela, in direct address to the audience, wants us to know the real truth – and what a fascinating and stark truth it is.

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