Variety is the name of the game in this week’s budget: multilingual performance, opera on bicycles, and comedy previews, among others. Enjoy the last of summer!
Shows That Caught Our Eyes in Toronto the Week of August 31st, 2015
There are plenty of great theatre options to choose from this week. We’ve highlighted those we’d most like to see in red text. Check it out below the cut!
Toronto’s Capricorn 9 presents Jeffrey a play set in the ’90s during the AIDS crisis
Jeffery is a play by Paul Rudnick that tells the story of a gay man who has sworn off sex while living in New York amid the AIDS crisis in the ’90s. The script both embraces and defies the stereotypes of gay men at the time. Capricorn 9’s production of Jeffery at Red Sandcastle Theatre has plenty of distractingly rough edges but, at times, it still manages to find the confusion and exuberance of the era.
Puppet Macbeth is an “outstanding, fresh take” on Shakespearian tragedy in Toronto parks
This is not the first time that I’ve seen puppets speak the words of Shakespeare, but this is the first time that I’ve seen such a well-done Shakespearean puppet show for adults. With a winsome blend of humour and sorrow, Shakespeare in the Ruff’s Macbeth: Walking Shadowsis one of those productions that truly deserves to be called innovative in my opinion.
Keeper, a new play by Tanisha Taitt, debuts at Toronto’s Artscape Youngplace
When I walked into the small room at Artscape Youngplace to watch Fine Wine Theatre’s Keeper, I was greeted with one of my favourite quotations hanging on a wall as part of the set. It is a variation of the Buddhist maxim, “In the end, what matters most is how well did you live, how well did you love, and how well did you learn to let go.” Keeper, whether by accident or design, touches on each to a powerful emotional effect.