The Femme Playlist is an intense autobiographical piece on queer feminism on stage at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times

b current, sulong theatre company, and Eventual Ashes‘s production The Femme Playlist (currently playing at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre space) is a fascinating look into the life of a queer femme woman of colour: Catherine Hernandez. Hernandez invites us into her space for 45 minutes to reveal to us the realities of her life from masturbation to motherhood, body shame to burlesque. By meeting the show on its own terms I feel like I learned a lot and was left heartily entertained and wanting more time with this talented performer.

Continue reading Review: The Femme Playlist (b current) →

The Velveteen Rabbit is a Perfect Ballet for Young Audiences

Canada’s Ballet Jörgen’s production of The Velveteen Rabbit is as enjoyable an afternoon at the theatre as an educational introduction to ballet aimed at children needs to be. It is full of enough wonder and spectacle to keep the attention of a house full of small children entertained and is impressive and nostalgia-inducing enough to appeal to parents too.

I’ll have to admit that as a post-grad university student with no children I don’t think I’m really a part of the audience the Canada’s Ballet Jörgen is targeting with this production, but my companion and I both really enjoyed spending an hour watching this show this afternoon.

Kathleen Rea, the choreographer, has distilled the well-known story into a short series of dances weaved together with some brief narration in a way that blends forms of storytelling that might be more familiar to children with ballet storytelling in a way that I think was really successful. Continue reading Review: The Velveteen Rabbit (Canada’s Ballet Jörgen) →

Intimate, hyper-realism transform Unit 102’s American Buffalo into a unique theatrical experience in Toronto

American Buffalo is Unit 102 Actor’s Company’s final production before they become The Theatre Machine and it’s a relief that this valiant effort isn’t the last we’ll see from the members of this company or in this space. Their production of American Buffalo will always remind us of their great ability to stage fascinating, complex theatre in an intimate setting.

Continue reading Review: American Buffalo (Unit 102 Actor’s Company) →

Gender bending adds LGBTQ appeal to Romeo and (Her) Juliet on stage at Toronto’s Bloor Street Church

The Headstrong Collective’s Romeo and (Her) Juliet thrives under the direction of Urban Bard Productions‘ master director Scott Emerson Moyle. He leads the cast to thrilling performances that alternate between side-splittingly hilarious and deeply emotionally resonant.

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Wolf Sounds, a play by Toronto’s Peanut Butter People, is an invitation to a sacred space; Check It Out!

Wolf Sounds, the play currently being produced by Peanut Butter People at The Box, is a complex, engaging, and ultimately incredibly rewarding exploration of human connection, sexual desire, and loneliness produced by a collective of talented young people with special needs.

The play explores these themes through a series of artistic impressions that suggest a story, rather than through story arcs. Each scene, vignette, and dance explores a particular aspect of one these themes or a particular experienced emotion, as the artists guide the audience from an experience of being disconnected to an experience of being hyper-connected.

In a typical performance art style, Wolf Sounds defies theatrical conventions and uses the stage they’ve been given in surprising and fascinating ways. What makes Wolf Sounds so astounding is that it also defies mainstream narratives for people with special needs and invites us to view the experiences of these characters that are rounded, vulnerable, and real. Continue reading Review: Wolf Sounds (Peanut Butter People) →