You don’t see enough comedy. I mean, I get it: maybe stand-up’s not your thing (“Am I right, ladies?”), and maybe the earnestness of improv puts you off — but if you can stomach a scripted proscenium show, you can handle a evening of sketches. So let’s send you to some! This week’s Cheap Theatre isn’t all comedy, but there’s a lot of it going, and a lot of it’s damned cheap.
Continue reading Cheap Theatre in Toronto for the Week of March 31st, 2015
At Mooney on Theatre, we love the Classical Theatre Project. Whenever we see them, we have a marvelous time, and we especially dig their mandate of making classics relevant to new audiences and in new ways — particularly in schools.
So when we heard about their revival of ShakesBeer, we were excited. ShakesBeer combines a production of a CTP favourite — the highly irreverent Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) — with three other Mooney favourites: beer, pies, and the Artscape Wychwood Barns. It’s a noisy, boisterous and hilarious evening under the stars with plenty to please devoted fans and newcomers alike.
Best of all, CPT is offering a $10 discount for readers of Mooney on Theatre: just use code brew39 at checkout.
Tickets start at $49 ($39 with the promo code) and normally sell quickly, so if this sounds up your alley, snatch one up while you’ve got the chance!
(Full press release follows under the jump.)
Details
Continue reading Buzz: ShakesBeer (Classical Theatre Project)
The Bad Dog Comedy Theatre is hard to find on a cold night, but my plus-one and I were able to spot it hidden between buildings. We opened the door and walked up a narrow staircase into a bar. The place was packed. All the bar seats were taken. People were chatting excitedly. I could feel the hyped energy of the place before we even got our tickets. I knew then, that this was going to be a fun crowd.
A fun crowd is essential for the kind of show that Pushpins is doing. The crew of ten comics have to improvise sketches based on suggestions by the audience. Instead of asking for suggestions every few minutes, the crew takes only two suggestions from the audience at the very beginning: a location and an adjective. The crew uses that to collectively invent a little universe. The audience gives them an idea and they run with it.
Continue reading Review: Pushpins (Bad Dog Theatre)
If you’re a fan of comedy or musicals or both, this is certainly your week to check out some great theatre that Toronto has to offer. From Hairspray to RENT and plenty of laughs to be had over at the Comedy Bar, it’s the perfect opportunity to make this a fun-filled week. I’ve highlighted the shows that I would love to see in red. Have a look at see what grabs your attention.
Continue reading Play Listings for the Week of March 30, 2015
Nature of the Beast turns upon Francis (Nicholas Rice), a genial old stoner — think Bob Ross and his happy little trees — who lives in a tiny cottage up the ass-end of nowhere. He earns a little money selling wood carvings, and a lot of money as an unlikely dom, entertaining a parade of privileged city slickers who’d like to be whipped into shape in his basement.
All’s well until Francis’ teenaged nephew (Jakob Ehman) drops in suddenly and expects to stay: big argument at home, things that can’t be unsaid, and the kid’s got nowhere else to go.
But as Francis tries to balance these two worlds which can’t collide — the fragile high school student in the guestroom, the client (Clint Butler) chained to the wall in the basement — his life slowly begins to unravel, until playwright Brandon Crone finally reveals (here it comes, folks, I hope you’re ready) the Nature of the Beast.
Continue reading Review: Nature of the Beast (Lone Wolf Collective)