Simeon Taole brings raw intensity and emotion to his role of Winston in The Space Between, his one man theatre show playing at Toronto’s Distillery District
I seem always to be dashing to the Distillery District, desperately hoping not to be late for some theatrical experience. It’s a shame because I hardly ever have a chance to actually enjoy the area. Thankfully, I made it to the Ernest Balmer Studio only a few moments late and found that the front of house staff had been holding the show for a few tardy individuals (of which I was one).
Examining the struggles of living in rural Nova Scotia, Bone Cage is playing at Toronto’s Hart House Theatre
I have a habit of going into see a show completely blind: by reading as little as possible about it. I enjoy finding out about the work as the actors play it. Going in to see Bone Cage at Hart House, I was unaware that Catherine Banks, the playwright, was the recipient of the 2008 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama.
Bone Cage is a dark play that explores the emotional turmoil of 5 people living in rural Nova Scotia. Each character has their own story line about the harsh life of working the land and living in a tough working class Canadian village. Continue reading Review: Bone Cage (Hart House Theatre)→
Tapestry’s Opera Briefs showcases young, contemporary talent creating new and innovative pieces that bring opera to a new generation
“Tapestry Briefs“, Tapestry‘s annual program of operatic shorts, was a wonderful showcase of young, contemporary, operatic talent. The program presents the collaborations from Tapestry’s 17th annual Composer-Librettist Laboratory. This year’s lab was comprised of four librettists (Nicholas Billon, Morris Panych, Julie Tepperman, David Yee) and four composers (Patrick Arteaga, Cecilia Livingston, Jocelyn Morlock, Chris Thornborrow). Each short scene was created by a different librettist/composer pairing. The twelve shorts were extremely diverse and spanned a wide range of human emotions and experience. Continue reading Review: Opera Briefs (Tapestry)→
Toronto’s Alumnae Theatre kicks off their current season with The Underpants – a hilarious story about feminism, gender roles and conformity
Alumnae Theatre opened its 2013/2014 season with The Underpants, a sweet frothy delight. It was written in 1910 by Carl Sternheim. It was called Die Hose and is a farce poking fun at bourgeois snobbery. This adaptation by Steve Martin was first produced in 2002.
Interesting that the play’s themes are still relevant today, feminism, gender roles, conformity vs individuality; they aren’t as controversial as they were 100 years ago but we still struggle with them.
Wheelwright’s If One Night performed at Toronto’s Trinity St. Paul’s – a new touring music-theatre show that gave theatre a good reimagining
Have you ever been to something that you just wanted to tell everyone about? Well If One Night: A Collodion Remedy by Wheelwright was one of those. I loved it. I was invited to see it by a friend, one of the writers. A bunch of my friends were going so I decided to tag along. It turned out to be such a great decision I asked if I could write a review about it.
Wheelwright sold If One Night as “a new touring music-theatre show”. The theatre part of the show is about 3 individuals who obsessively move cities. The narrative follows their logic, as each of the characters tries to explain to us their silent, yet unignorable desire to emigrate to a new city. The music part comes in the form of 5 local bands and musicians playing between the actors scenes.
Alumnae Theatre