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.
The struggle of Gen Y vs the career market is tackled in Unemployment Unanimous at Toronto’s Mixed Company Theatre
Theatre that’s successfully interactive and relatable isn’t the easiest feat to perform, but Project Boomerang, Mixed Company Theatre’s emerging artists collective, does a solid job of building an experience that’s thoughtful, immersive and truly entertaining.
A workshop production that tackles the ever-talked about issue of Millenials and their stigma of laziness and entitlement, Unemployment Unanimous is performed like a support group for Gen Y-ers. A mock 12-step program to help young people forgo the perils of unemployment and work towards the goal of finding that elusive career.
The Playwright Project presents Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, a story of romance and politics at Toronto’s Downstage
Passionate, independent theatre, being introduced to a playwright and a new theatre space for the first time: it must be Playwright Project time again in Toronto! This year four plays written by Caryl Churchill are being mounted by four companies at The Downstage. I hope I can fit all four into my schedule.
So far I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy Drunk Enough to Say I Love You with my friend Ron, and I loved it. Let me tell you why.
The classic game receives a song and dance treatment in Bingo the Musical playing at the Toronto Centre for the Arts
The audience sits with rapt attention, but their eyes are not on the stage. Each person stares at their lap, listening for their number. The air is tense as the caller announces “B12, N43, O70”. Then the silence is interrupted with a triumphant shout: “BINGO!” There is a moment of disappointment as the rest realize their luck is lost, but the lights go back up in the Toronto Centre For the Arts theatre and Bingo: The Musical by Encore Entertainment goes on.
Bingo: The Musical, directed and choreographed by Larry Westlake, is exactly what you would expect from a musical about a game that is popular with senior centers. It is not a heart-wrenching drama questioning humanity and the meaning of existence; the show is a musical with a simple premise that is blown-up to poke fun and entertain. The jokes are cheesy, the songs are catchy, and the scenario is more than a little odd. Continue reading Review: Bingo The Musical (Encore Entertainment)→
The play is divided into scenes in which character relationships are explored. Mother and daughter Joan and Alice live together near a dairy farm run by Margery and Jack. Relations appear strained when gluttonous Joan requests yeast from austere Margery. Added to this strain are Jack’s attraction to Alice and his unsolicited sexual advances. Alice and her friend, Susan, speak frankly about their desire and sexual agency. The unfortunate young neighbour, Betty, is branded an hysteric by the doctor because she feels pressured to marry a man she does not love.
Tensions rise when a series of mystical and/or inexplicable events occur. Margery’s butter fails to come, her bread doesn’t rise and her calves get sick. John suffers from erectile dysfunction and Susan miscarries after taking a potion from the ‘cunning woman’, Ellen. In this culture of superstition and fear, witchcraft becomes the scapegoat and accusations fall on the faultless with grave and gruesome consequences.
Soulpepper adapts Of Human Bondage, the classic novel of unrequited love and the human condition, to the Toronto stage
At the end of the first act of Soulpepper’s production of Of Human Bondage, based on the 1915 classic novel by W. Somerset Maugham, I asked my companion what he thought so far. He liked the staging but found that the story was overly focused on unrequited love. I argued that there were other themes as well: addiction, poverty and class; the value of art vs medicine in society; and the role of loyalty in friendship. But I also agreed that, to someone with minimal engagement to older literature, some of the romantic histrionics might seem irrelevant. But didn’t unrequited love still exist? Aren’t modern relationships just as fraught? I couldn’t put my finger on what was missing from the play. Continue reading Review: Of Human Bondage (Soulpepper)→
Vinegar Tom is a thoughtful, evocative addition to Toronto’s Playwright Project