In the sidewalk crush outside the Lower Ossington Theatre on Friday afternoon, audience members coming and going to the SummerWorks box office and two venues, you could tell who had just seen Late Company at a glance: red-rimmed eyes, haunted expression, holding hands. It’s exactly that difficult. It’s even more extraordinary. I am still, hours later, revisiting it and savoring moments of truly transcendent theatre.
Can you ever love somebody too much; so much so that it hurts just thinking about them? And have you ever been in a relationship where every moment you’re together is like a volatile mix of passion and regret, but apart you feel like you’re nothing?
Dreamcatchers. I have one, a pretty black and gray one studded with smokey quartz crystals and feathers, purchased from a childhood trip to Collingwood. Like many I didn’t put much thought into purchasing or owning one aside from it being a neat souvenir. But the dreamcatcher takes on a whole new significance in A Side of Dreams during this year’s SummerWorks festival. The spirit of the dreamcatcher is triggered in a single mother’s search for identity and heritage. Continue reading A Side of Dreams (Paper Canoe Projects) 2013 SummerWorks Review→
I Am Very Far, playing at the Scotiabank Studio Theatre as part of this year’s SummerWorks festival, combines video, music and a team of actors to generate a cohesive impression of trauma, loss and memory as it affects the central character coping with the sudden death of his father. But like the themes represented, I Am Very Far loses direction halfway through, as narrative regresses into a blur of fragments and the audience feels very far, indeed, from what is happening on stage. Continue reading I Am Very Far (Pressgang Theatre) 2013 SummerWorks Review→
