The Paprika Festival in Toronto showcases emerging theatre talent
The Paprika Festival is the only festival of its kind in Canada and I can say first hand, it makes one truly excited for the future of theatre in Toronto.
Perhaps one day this festival will be Canada-wide, but for now, it is a wonderful celebration of the work of young theatrical artists in our fair city. Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman is a notable alumna. I saw three plays in the Festival this week or, rather, workshops of each. I have to say I was stunned by the amount of talent from these young artists. If you are feeling old and unaccomplished, this is definitely not the festival for you!
The fantastical Neverending Story based on the novel by Michael Ende plays at the Young People’s Theatre in Toronto
I’ve never seen the film epic for The Neverending Story, but my seven-year-old theatre companion did and was able to share his insights with me. He quite enjoyed it, and wasn’t as scared of the play as he was of the movie version. The little girl behind me, however, started to whimper not even halfway through – and promptly left the theatre with her mother.
Recommended for kids in grades 3 to 8 by the company, this play features Adamo Ruggiero as Atreyu, who is better known to older kids as Marco from Degrassi: The Next Generation. He did a wonderful job as the young and brave hero in the land of Fantastica.
Monkey Toast opens to a full-house at Toronto’s Comedy Bar
The Monkey Toast show I saw on Saturday follows a talk show format broken up with a bunch of comedic improv skits. The night I attended was their official Canadian re-launch with new host, Ron Tite. The show has been on hiatus from Toronto after their successful seven-year run when creator and former host David Shore moved to the UK and took the show with him. There are definitely a lot of fans who were awaiting this comeback as opening night was a full house.
I had never heard of Monkey Toast before so I had nothing to compare it to but what I saw I thoroughly enjoyed. I walked in expecting more of a stand-up comedy routine, even though the show is billed as an improvised talk show, I thought it would follow more of a comedy club format. Instead we got a smart and funny show with Canadian celebrities and even some politically charged conversation. Continue reading Review: Monkey Toast: The Improvised Talk Show (Jan Caruana, Lisa Merchant & Ron Tite)→
Here is what’s going on in Toronto theatre this week. There are several great shows to catch for the week of March 12, 2012: ** Shows marked with the double asterisks and in red are the ones that make Wayne, our Managing Editor, wish he could exist in multiple parallel universes so he could check them all out.
