Retro 8-bit gaming blends with rapid-fire improv in The Video Game Show at Toronto’s Comedy Bar

I love video games. Ever since I was a kid I loved sitting in front of a screen and making pixelated characters run around fantastic environments, saving worlds using only my finely honed hand-eye coordination and wits. In today’s modern world, “Interactive Storytelling” has become a constant in our daily lives, which makes Bad Dog Theatre Company‘s Video Game Show an almost inevitable occurrence. Really though, is it surprising? Improv theatre is the most interactive of stage performances (short of the audience getting up and doing it themselves) and blends easily with the interactive soul of gaming; it’s a wonder it hasn’t been explored more often.

Upon arriving at Comedy Bar for the performance, I was immediately struck by the choice in décor the company made in the Main Stage area; dark lighting, lots of tinfoil and neon lights all framing a projected image of the demo program of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) port of Contra. It felt like I’d gone back to an early 90’s arcade, and aside from having some trouble getting around due to the near-darkness I already found myself getting into the mood for some 8-bit fun.

Continue reading Review: The Video Game Show (Bad Dog Theatre Company) →

The stories of wounded war veterans come to life in The Two Worlds of Charlie F. at the Princess of Wales Theatre

The Two Worlds of Charlie F. is part of the 2013/2014 Off-Mirvish season. The first thing I noticed last night when I arrived at the Princess of Wales Theatre were a lot of military brass in dress uniforms, milling around and chatting in the lobby. Not your usual opening night theatre audience.

The second thing I noticed were the cast bios in the program. Name, rank, company, and injury. Definitely not your usual cast. Continue reading Review: The Two Worlds of Charlie F. (Mirvish) →

Chaos ensues after a shocking post-mortem reveal in Nude with Violin playing at Toronto’s Papermill Theatre

There is a charming little venue at Todmorden Mills, tucked in beside the Don Valley Parkway—it’s called the Papermill Theatre; I went there last night to see the East Side Players production of Noel Coward’s Nude With Violin. It was a night of firsts for me: first Coward play, first time at the Papermill, and my first experience with the East Side Players. On all counts, it was more than worth the long, cold walk down Pottery Road.

Set in Paris in the early 50s, the play begins just after the death of a famous artist. Like vultures, his socialite family members flock to his studio to leech off his estate. To their chagrin, the late artist left a letter revealing he was a fraud who never painted a single picture. This confession had been left in the hands of his faithful valet—who, during the rest of the play, negotiates with the family to determine if the truth is to be made public or suppressed. Continue reading Review: Nude With Violin (East Side Players) →

A double bill with contrasting themes is featured in the National Ballet’s Watch her/A Month in the Country

Let me first say, that aside from The Nutcracker, Watch her/A Month in the Country was my first experience with not only The National Ballet of Canada but with ballet in general. Yet, while not knowing what to expect Wednesday night, I arrived at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts with eager anticipation.

Continue reading Review: Watch her/A Month in the Country (The National Ballet of Canada) →

The pomp and circumstance of the pageantry world takes to Toronto’s EnWave Theatre in Major Tom

When you see Major Tom (playing the EnWave Theatre as part of WorldStage), you don’t watch Victoria Melody perform nearly so much as run into her at a dog park: she smiles in recognition, and you start chatting.  She has the sort of personality which, with nothing more than a wink and a well-chosen anecdote, brings you into her world. Vicky’s going to talk, and you’re going to listen–and you’re going to enjoy every minute of it.

And this particular story is fascinating: she walks us through more-or-less a year in the life of a dog fancier who, feeling it unfair that her basset hound (the titular Major Tom) must be primped and trained and perfumed and tweezed into a perfect specimen in order to compete at dog shows, decides to begin entering beauty pageants herself–with all the attendant weight loss, relationship strain, pink-ribbon runs, spray-on tans, and charity calendar shoots.

Continue reading Review: Major Tom (Victoria Melody / WorldStage) →