Patriotic experimental theatre took over Toronto’s Glen Morris Studio with I Am America
There are productions that have appalled and confused me, productions that have surprised and inspired me, but very rarely do I have the chance to see something that penetrates so thoroughly, challenging my notions of what theatre is. That is what happened with I Am America, which I was honoured to see last night at the Glen Morris Studio Theatre.
Why do I have to see every production of Alice in Wonderland? It’s the kind of story that, when translated into theatre, unless you hire Tim Burton as your ‘set guy’ or you slip everyone in the audience LSD, presents the challenge of conveying perceptual and psychological realities that are all-encompassing and essential for the story’s success. When you read Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, your imagination makes quick work of this, but how can these realities be conveyed through theatre?
Examining the final years of Toronto’s first mayor, Firebrand is playing at the Mackenzie House
Firebrand started as soon as I stepped into Mackenzie House. Surrounded by history and the story of Mackenzie’s political life Firebrand brought life to Toronto’s first Mayor. This is Single Thread Theatre’s third historical play in a series set on location around Toronto.
Written by Alex Dualt and set at the end of William Lyon Mackenzie’s life, Firebrand looks at his difficulty with debt, struggles with his home life, and his resignation from politics. Firebrand also briefly touched on some political topics that are still going strong today. The most potent and intriguing to me were the discussions about the Civilization Act, treatment and care of mental health patients, and women’s rights.
Argentinian tango takes center stage at Toronto’s Panasonic Theatre in Arrabal
Buenos Aires. From the shantytowns in 1979 to the underground tango clubs 18 years later. Following the life of an innocent teenage girl getting lured into the scintillating world of tango in the face of a cultural revolution. Wait, you had me at the tango club. When I first learned of Mirvish‘s latest dance-oriented production, Arrabal, playing at the Panasonic Theatre, images of the Tango Roxanne from Moulin Rouge swam through my head. Yes, sign me up.
Arrabal is a story told entirely through dance, namely the tango, and does so in fun and exciting ways that I normally didn’t attribute the tango to do. Being as that there isn’t any dialogue between performers, the plot is fairly easy to follow — it’s not abstract or arcane, but the choreography speaks volumes.
Intricate puppets come to life in Ronnie Burkett’s The Daisy Theatre at Toronto’s Factory Theatre
I am going to review the show I saw, which was brilliant and delicious, but the show you see (when you wisely go and get tickets for this right away) will be different. The Daisy Theatre, which began as a commissioned work for the 2013 Luminato festival, is different every night at Factory Theatre. Ronnie Burkett and his cast of thirty-odd marionettes take the stage every evening in a cabaret-style show that changes according to whim and weather. Some numbers the audience gets to choose, some require the participation of audience members (many of them handsome young men, which I feel certain was a coincidence); politics, gossip, reviews and complaints all get mixed in. I left wanting to come back, to see it again, to see what changes, what other puppets and stories might take the stage.
Buenos Aires. From the shantytowns in 1979 to the underground tango clubs 18 years later. Following the life of an innocent teenage girl getting lured into the scintillating world of tango in the face of a cultural revolution. Wait, you had me at the tango club. When I first learned of 