You probably haven’t seen anything like This at Toronto’s Berkeley Street Theatre
The title of This, currently produced by Canadian Stage, lends itself to a lot of wordplay, sometimes unintentional. When I walked into the Berkeley Street Theatre I gasped and said to my companion “I’ve never seen it like this.” I wasn’t referencing the play itself, though I laughed about it a second later. But I think the designer’s decision to strip away the stage from the space was intended to evoke a reaction to “this” and thus set the mood for the play. Continue reading Review: This (Canadian Stage)→
Soup Can Theatre’s double bill A Hand of Bridge &No Exit an exciting pairing for the Toronto Stage
Soup Can Theatre made an apt choice in pairing the “micro” opera A Hand of Bridge with Sartre’s No Exit. This seemingly loosely connected double billing of an opera with an existentialist play turned into an intuitive match in the interpretive hands of A Hand of Bridge director Pratik Gandhi and No Exit director Sarah Thorpe.
Ballet Jörgen Canada brings the timeless classic Swan Lake to the Toronto stage
It isn’t often that I get to watch classical ballet anymore. It was a treat to get to attend opening night of Ballet Jörgen Canada’s Swan Lake at the Betty Oliphant Theatre on Wednesday night. There’s something very nostalgic for me about watching these traditional stories come to life. It makes me feel like a kid again.
For anyone that doesn’t know the story of Swan Lake, it is your traditional boy-meets-girl tragic love story, just with some added magic and allusions to beastiality for pizzaz. Prince Siegfried is told by his mother that he must choose a bride to wed. Upset by her demand he goes hunting and comes across a flock of swans. As he aims to shoot, one of the swans suddenly becomes a beautiful young woman whom he falls in love with. The young woman, Odette, explains that she is a princess who has been cast under a spell by the sorcerer Von Rothbart. She is destined to be a swan by day and a woman by night until her true love is found and commits to her forever.
Meet the powerful Gwen Powers at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Murraile
Gwen Powers is an intriguing, highly entertaining and Toronto-centric take on the age old problem of a “bizarre love triangle”. Gwen Powers, the character, is like a sunburn. One usually has great fun getting the burn, but the consequences are very painful. Theatre Passe Murraile Backspace isn’t a beach, but it is where Gwen burns two men.
The play is original, fresh, entertaining, fast paced and completely enjoyable. Gwen Powers will make you think, too. Don’t worry. There won’t be a test on this.
