Site-specific pairing of plays in Toronto, FORNÉS X2, is wholly satisfying

My experience of seeing Theatre Asylum’s FORNÉS X2 was a lot like the experience of eating at an exceptionally good pop-up restaurant. I went in not knowing a whole lot about the brilliant Maria Irene Fornés or her plays The Successful Life of 3 and Mud (the two plays that make up FORNÉS X2), but I was assured that I was about to see something of high quality. Thankfully, I enjoyed both plays immensely and was left fully satisfied.

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The Jurassic Games, now playing on stage in Toronto, is a rowdy good time

They mayor of Toronto has really messed up this time. Instead of bidding for the Pan Am Games, he bid on the Panem Hunger Games, a battle royale born from the hybrid of perennially popular franchises “The Hunger Games” and “Jurassic Park.” As the characters from both worlds come together, they must fight for survival against seemingly insurmountable odds.

That’s the premise of Queen’s Players Toronto‘s new show, The Jurassic Games, currently playing at the Tranzac Club.

Part sketch comedy, part keg party, The Jurassic Games is a brilliant parody of politics and pop culture. It’s fresh. It’s interactive. And it’s all for a good cause, with some of the proceeds going to support The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, Camp OOCH and Femme International.

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Run to catch The 39 Steps on stage at the Rear Window Theatre in Toronto

You’ve heard of The 39 Steps, the Hitchcock thriller? Before James Bond was even a twinkle in Ian Fleming’s eye, this story of foreign agents,  dalliances with beautiful women, sinister criminal masterminds and Hitchcock’s greatest MacGuffin thrilled audiences and held them on the very edges of their seats.

The modern staging, developed around 2005 in the UK, keeps it taut and exciting, but adds a heaping dose of irreverence: there are still exotic women, airplane chases, strangers on a train and a dangerous man with a peculiar injury, but everything is played by a company of four actors, working on a stage the size of a postage stamp, climbing over each other to chew the scenery.

When the cast comes at it with loads of energy and chutzpah, it works. And lord, does this Gin Soak’d production work.

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One-woman play in Toronto offers a strong performance, disappointing story

Stitch, by Culture Storm Production, presented by Native Earth, is a one-woman show where the protagonist, Kylie Grandview, is a porn performer and mother whose life falls apart.

Georgina Beaty gives a good performance, playing Kylie as well as a vast array of characters she interacts with. The production values are high and the storytelling is strong, but unfortunately the story itself is a tired  cliché that only perpetuates the stigmatization of sex work. Continue reading Review: Stitch (Culture Storm presented by Native Earth) →

Quartet, story of four retirement home  performers, takes to the stage in Toronto

Last night, my friend Elaine and I went to see Quartet, the final show in East Side Players’ 2014/2015 season.

Quartet is set in a retirement home for singers and musicians. Every year they celebrate Verdi’s birthday in October with a gala, and all the residents perform. Cissy (Malorie Mandolidis), Wilfred (Daryn DeWalt) and Reg (Robert Ouelette) plan  to perform as a trio.

Then Jean (Jane Hunter), Reg’s ex-wife and a prima-donna supreme, shows up.

Will she sing at the gala? Will she join them to form a quartet?

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