The Tennessee Williams’ classic receives a lively remount at Toronto’s Hart House Theatre
It’s hard to believe that Tennessee Williams‘ classic play, A Streetcar Named Desire (UC Follies Theatre Company), is 67 years old. Its portrayal of mental illness has become only more resonant over the years, and with society becoming even more educated and aware of mental illness, A Streetcar Named Desire will only continue to be a compelling piece of theatre. It’s currently playing at the Hart House Theatre.
A Streetcar Named Desire focuses on Blanche Dubois, a woman who’s flighty demeanor is questioned when she comes to New Orleans to visit her sister, Stella, and Stella’s brutish husband, Stanley Kowalski. The dynamic between Blanche and Stanley is one based on mounting tension-both emotionally and sexually. Much like a kettle coming to boil, Blanche’s world becomes unravelled when she is forced to comes to terms with reality.
Come for the “lovely” play and stay for the coffee and pie, This One is on stage at Fraser Studios in Toronto
This One, playing at Fraser Studios, is a hat trick. For the price of admission you get a lovely 60 minute play, a recipe for Pecan Pie, and a piece of pie after the show. As a bonus you get to see someone make a pie crust from scratch. All in all a delightful, delicious evening.
Blackbird, playing at Toronto’s Artscape Youngspace, suffers from a lacking script that fails to hit the mark
Blackbird, an indie production from FilmBooth Productions, is showing in a “Flex Studio” in Artscape Youngspace, which makes it very intimate and it’s always fun to see something in an unconventional space. The subject matter, however is far from “fun”: it concerns a woman who searches out the man who sexually abused her when she was twelve years old and he was forty. The action is set in the deserted lunchroom of the warehouse where the man, now approaching sixty, works. Continue reading Review: Blackbird (FilmBooth Productions)→
Let’s not beat around the bush – everyone gets into the holiday spirit way too early. There’s Christmas music everywhere right after Halloween ends. It’s still 22 days away, for heavens sake! We can’t spend 1/6th of the year celebrating a single holiday. In that same vein, here’s a Cheap Theatre listing that includes anything but holiday/Christmas themed shows – and really interesting sounding ones, at that. Enjoy the brief respite – all of the shows have tickets available for $25 or less!
The 2011 Fringe hit Kim’s Convenience takes to the stage at Toronto’s Young Centre for the Performing Arts
Every once in a while something comes along, seemingly out of the blue, that strikes a chord across generations, ethnic backgrounds and geographic locations. Kim’s Convenience, currently onstage at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto’s Distillery District, is one of those rare gems.
Fresh off a national tour, Kim’s Convenience originally began as a Fringe play in 2011. On the surface it is the simple story of a Korean-run corner store in Toronto’s Regent Park. On a deeper level, it’s a timeless exploration of the nuances that make families so loved, hated, relatable and universal.
