Me Talking to Myself in the Future is one woman’s retrospections at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

At one point midway through Me Talking to Myself in the Future, currently playing at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, the show’s creator and star Marie Brassard interrupts herself in the midst of a reverie and says, “I am telling a story which makes no sense.”

When she delivered the line on opening night, the audience laughed with palpable relief, as though she’d named the elephant in the room. Afterwards, my friend and I agreed that her candor in that moment helped us connect to the performance — in truth, the show is often quite hard to follow (at least by the standard of stories that makes sense).

But things aren’t what they seem in this hallucinatory play about evolution and transformation, including that stodgy old elephant, which turned out to be a red herring. Brassard wasn’t conceding to literal-mindedness, but gently reminding us to shift our expectations.

Continue reading Review: Me Talking to Myself in the Future (Buddies in Bad Times) →

The Greek myth is given a thoughtful, sophisticated, age-appropriate retelling at Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre

Minotaur (at the Young People’s Theatre) is a big project with even bigger goals. Playwright Keven Dyer explores mythology and legend, destiny, family, identity, and trust, and the effect is not entirely unlike being trapped in a labyrinth: the plot turns and swerves and convolutes, piling on top of itself until one can’t help but feel a little lost. Where are we supposed to look? What are we meant to understand? Where does this tunnel lead?

But don’t be put off: Dyer’s script is richer than this. He does his young audience the kindness of assuming that–again, like Theseus–they’ll find their own way, cobbling together what they’ll understand, asking and exploring the questions which interest the most, latching onto the symbols and messages which speak to them. And while his labyrinth is filled with monsters and menace, he’s left us with no dead ends. Everywhere leads to somewhere else, and when the paths eventually converge, the payoff for persevering through these twisted halls makes the journey more than worthwhile for grown-ups as well as young people.

Continue reading Review: Minotaur (Young People’s Theatre) →

Music, art, theatre and chaotic dissonance collide in Cabaret brise-jour at Toronto’s The Theatre Centre

I’ve really been looking forward to seeing L’orchestre d’hommes-orchestres at The Theatre Centre. The last time I saw LODHO in Toronto was three years ago and they were playing the music of Tom Waits. I’ve been waiting ever since to see them again.

It was worth the wait. Cabaret brise-jour features the music of Kurt Weill and the inimitable style of LODHO – an unexpectedly beautiful match. LODHO makes music that you have to watch and there’s so much happening on stage that it’s impossible to see everything. It’s like an art exhibit that you want to see more than once. At one point I thought that I was looking at a surreal painting. And then there were times that I felt I was watching choreographed pandemonium.

It was wonderful. Continue reading Review: Cabaret brise-jour – L’orchestre d’hommes-orchestres (The Theatre Centre) →

Toronto’s Acting Up Stage presents a re-imagined production of William Finn’s Elegies: A Song Cycle.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary season Acting Up Stage Company is presenting a “reimagined” remount of their hit 2007 production of Elegies: A Song Cycle. Written by William Finn, Elegies is a series of standalone songs written in memory of the composer’s friends and family. Finn includes songs about friends who had passed away from AIDS, his mother, his dogs, and the victims of the World Trade Centre collapse. Continue reading Review: Elegies: A Song Cycle (Acting Up Stage Company) →

Dark sensuality and rock n’ roll light up Sterling Studio Theatre for Cowboy Mouth in Toronto

I’ve grown so attached to the Sterling Studio Theatre that I often feel a pang of jealousy whenever someone else is assigned to cover a show. As is right and proper (ahem), I was able to see the opening of Rhízōma Productions’ Cowboy Mouth. With a beer in my hand, snuggled up against the exposed brick of the venue, I enjoyed my fifth show at this intimate space.

As an introduction to the play, and in support of local indie musicians, the evening begins with an opening act—a new one featured for each performance. Last night, I was treated to an acoustic guitar set by JJ Thompson. It was an enjoyable mix of covers and original work, and a thematically perfect prelude to Sam Shepard and Patti Smith’s raunchy one-act about two dysfunctional rock n’ rollers—Slim and Cavale. Continue reading Review: Cowboy Mouth (Rhízōma Productions/Sterling Studio Theatre) →