Thought-provoking theatre in The Seagull in Four Movements, staged at Toronto’s Winchester Kitchen and Bar
Upstart Theatre’s The Seagull in Four Movements takes place in a faded cocktail bar in present day Toronto. Like its late nineteenth-century Chekhovian reference, it’s rife with the passion of a love-pentagon – much more complex than a love-triangle – and balances everyday issues of vanity, insecurity and the pursuit of a mother’s love with modern-day vernacular. Writer/Director Meg Moran included lines like, “Sorry I was late, the College car was backed up” or “God I love Toronto!” to make the piece instantly accessible and applicable to the here and now, despite The Seagull’s antique origin.
Scooby-Doo Live is a musical mystery at Toronto’s Sony Centre
“Scooby Doo Live!“, I told my son’s teacher, when she asked what show we were leaving early to see “At the Sony Centre.” She cocked her head quizically to the side and asked “How…do they fill up a show with that?” I promised to let her know.
fu-GEN Theatre presents Lauren Yee’s play Ching Chong Chinaman at Toronto’s Aki Studio Theatre
I grew up in the largely homogeneous, middle-class suburbs of Ottawa back in the 1980s; a time when it definitely wasn’t cool to be “ethnic”. As a result I had to assimilate as best I could to blend in to the dominant white, anglo culture.
This assimilation created a bit of a rift in my family; my parents are first generation immigrants, they speak with an accent and hold on to many old world Chinese values and customs whereas my brother and I were essentially middle-class suburban white kids … if it weren’t for the fact that we looked Chinese.
American playwright Lauren Yee explores complex identity issues and sends them up in deliciously irreverent manner in her play Ching Chong Chinaman which fu-GEN Theatre Company is presenting for the first time in Canada.
I grew up in the largely homogeneous, middle-class suburbs of Ottawa back in the 1980s; a time when it definitely wasn’t cool to be “ethnic”. As a result I had to assimilate as best I could to blend in to the dominant white, anglo culture.