Peggy Baker’s newest dance piece takes on mathematics as aesthetics on stage in Toronto

Veteran choreographer Peggy Baker has been creating dance in Toronto for more than forty years, but until now has only made shorter works, most of them solos. She’s an artist who understands the power of doing just what she means to do, no more and no less. It takes courage and intelligence to be that clear.

But with every choice she’s made over the last four decades, it seems that something else has been at work for Baker, something slowly building beneath the surface that’s now being let out.

On April 24, locus plot debuted at the Betty Oliphant Theatre, Baker’s first ever full evening ensemble performance, and her biggest, longest, and most ambitious work to date. What inspired this sudden, late career expansiveness? Mathematics.

Continue reading Review: locus plot (Peggy Baker Dance Projects) →

The Love List, on stage in Toronto, is a “must-see for all lovers of light-hearted comedy.”

When was the last time you checked out an online dating service? Browse through the profiles and you’ll inevitably come across a sea of bullet lists describing each user’s must-haves. But is there really such thing as a perfect match?

Written by prolific Canadian playwright Norm Foster, The Love List takes a comedic look at one man’s attempt at finding his picture-perfect soul mate. Continue reading Review: The Love List (Encore Entertainment) →

Nicky Guadagni plays seven different women in this one woman show in Toronto

The full house of Theatre Passe Muraille’s Backspace was in great company Tuesday night for the premiere of Hooked. Based on poems by Carolyn Smart, Hooked delves into the lives of seven powerful women, including Myra Hindley, Unity Mitford, Zelda Fitzgerald, Dora Carrington, Elizabeth Smart, Carson McCullers and Jane Bowles, telling their stories from glorious, glamorous beginning to (often enough) unfortunate disappointing demise. These seven women, each carrying their own historical heft, were all gallantly played by one: Nicky Guadagni.

It’s a big burden for one actor to carry, but Guadagni does so with gumption and a mesmerizing stage presence that drew me in as soon as she stepped into the spotlight. Between the awed silence and bursts of laughter, it was obvious that I wasn’t the only one thoroughly enjoying getting well-acquainted with the production’s characters.

Continue reading Review: Hooked (Theatre Passe Muraille) →

Laura Salvas takes on cubicle culture and corporate soullnessness at Fraser Studios in Toronto

Laurie O’Brien (Laura Salvas) graduates York University with a Bachelor of Arts and enters the only job she is qualified for—data entry at “Beige Industries Inc”—in the new comedic look at cubicle culture, How a Cup of Coffee Got Me Fired playing at Fraser Studios. Laurie is eager to make a career for herself, though what she likes best about her workplace is the state-of-the-art coffee machine. The office environment soon turns toxic, and while Laurie blames the other members of her team, she is pretty poisonous herself. Continue reading Review: How a Cup of Coffee Got Me Fired (Laura Salvas) →