Cabaret and burlesque meet opera in Against the Grain’s take on Orphee, on stage in Toronto
I did not know what to expect from “an electronic, baroque-burlesque, descent into hell” when I took my seat at Against the Grain Theatre’s production of Orphée. I knew what to expect from the work, having seen Opera Atelier’s interpretation of the same work in 2015, but I couldn’t really imagine how an electronic, burlesque aesthetic would fit in. Continue reading Review: Orphee (Against the Grain Theatre)→
Prairie Nurse is “fun” and “entertaining”, playing at the Factory Theatre in Toronto
Prairie Nurse opened at Factory Theatre on Thursday. Written by Marie Beath Badian, and inspired by her mother’s immigration story, it’s a very funny play about two young Filipino nurses who arrive at a small rural, hospital in Saskatchewan in mid-winter in the late 1960’s.
The play is kind of a combination of farce and slapstick and hinges on the inability of the Canadians to tell the Filipinos apart. It’s not as cringe making as it sounds; two of the characters have no trouble knowing who’s who, two others can’t tell and feel terrible about it, and the fifth is clueless. The nurses think all the Canadians look the same. Continue reading Review: Prairie Nurse (Factory Theatre and Thousand Islands Playhouse)→
A story about the pressure of growing into womanhood, on stage at the Tarragon in Toronto
In Girls Like That, onstage now at Tarragon, a group of girls in a small private grade school develop that dreadful, inevitable pecking order of insular communities. When they go to high school, their social dynamics are further complicated by sexuality, boys, and patriarchal contradictions about how they are supposed to engage with their sexuality, and with boys. Continue reading Review: Girls Like That (Tarragon Theatre)→
Live theatre shows in Toronto with ticket prices of $25 or less, playing the week of April 24th, 2018. Perfect for the budget-conscious theatre-goer. This week’s selections feature kid-friendly shows and very adult shows! And more! Check them out below the cut:
Ambitious Queen Marie plays at the Alumnae Theatre in Toronto
Playing at the Alumnae Theatre in Toronto’s Distillery District, Queen Marie is an engaging musical tribute to “great big girl” Marie Dressler. Dressler, whom I knew nothing of previously even though she won an Academy Award and acted with Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin, was an Ontario-born comic actor whose theatrical career spanned decades, right into the first “talkies”. Continue reading Review: Queen Marie (Alumnae Theatre)→
I did not know what to expect from “an electronic, baroque-burlesque, descent into hell” when I took my seat at Against the Grain Theatre’s production of Orphée. I knew what to expect from the work, having seen Opera Atelier’s interpretation of the same work in 2015, but I couldn’t really imagine how an electronic, burlesque aesthetic would fit in. Continue reading Review: Orphee (Against the Grain Theatre) 
Prairie Nurse is “fun” and “entertaining”, playing at the Factory Theatre in Toronto
A story about the pressure of growing into womanhood, on stage at the Tarragon in Toronto
Ambitious Queen Marie plays at the Alumnae Theatre in Toronto