Reviews of productions based in Toronto – theatre includes traditional definitions of theatre, as well as dance, opera, comedy, performance art, spoken word performances, and more. Productions may be in-person, or remote productions streamed online on the Internet.
Mirvish presents Ayad Akhtar’s provocative, award-winning play Disgraced in Toronto
Yesterday I had an exchange with an acquaintance about the infamous tweet by Black Lives Matter Toronto’s co-founder Yusra Khogali. He was quick to call “reverse racism” after I suggested that his not being a person of colour meant that he didn’t understand the context of Khogali’s tweet. It got heated. Issues like systemic racism and how it has manifested in contemporary power structures are increasingly being discussed, and that’s why a play like Disgraced feels so immediately relevant. It speaks profoundly to the political climate of today. Continue reading Review: Disgraced (Mirvish)→
Caught is an intense interrogation drama playing at the Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto
Caught, the latest production at the Theatre Passe Muraille backspace, is 75 minutes of interrogation intensity that drags up aspects of blame, entitlement, racial tension, gender tension, gaslighting, assault, and consequence to the here and now in painful and glaring ways. It’s intense and uncomfortable and far from a leisurely night at the theatre. For all of these reasons, Caught is worth seeing.
Toronto’s Fancy Bits Theatre takes on Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Matt & Ben
’90s tunes pervade the boozy atmosphere as you enter the Imperial Pub Backspace for Fancy Bits Theatre’s Matt & Ben (originally by Mindy Kaling & Brenda Withers), with drink in hand if you so choose. On stage, the main attraction is a soiled sofa with snacks littering the cardboard furniture and headshots covering the walls in hilariously narcissistic fashion. This is Ben Affleck’s apartment in the early ’90s, and we are about to witness a miracle.