Review: New Animal (605 Collective)

Shay Kuebler, Amber Funk Barton. Photo by Robert Sondergaard

Dancers get animalistic in New Animal playing at Toronto’s Enwave Theatre

In a quiet lobby at the Enwave Theatre I was hesitantly excited to see New Animal. I love seeing Canadian artists from out of town. By seeing these touring shows I get a taste of what else is going in our massive country. New Animal is a snap shot from Vancouver’s 605 Collective.

This piece really is all in the title. New Animal, you know what to expect. Animalistic behaviour dressed up in people clothes. It was vicious and violent. All the elements worked together to add to the voice of the work. Continue reading Review: New Animal (605 Collective)

Review: The Sacrifice Zone (Theatre Gargantua)

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Exceptionally performed and written, The Sacrifice Zone is playing at Toronto’s Factory Theatre

It has often been said that in the face of adversity, there are only two courses of action a person may take: fight or flight. The Sacrifice Zone, now playing at the Factory Theatre, examines the fallout experienced by one community in the wake of a tragic industrial accident.

Continue reading Review: The Sacrifice Zone (Theatre Gargantua)

Review: A Room Of One’s Own (Bloomsbury Collective)

Toronto’s Campbell House transforms for an immersive theatre experience in A Room of One’s Own

Back at Campbell House for A Room of One’s Own and a taste of 1928 I went, curious to see how my experience of Girton College would differ from my experience of the same historic home as a hand-wavy, Regency-esque haunted house from two weeks ago. Campbell House stood in charmingly for both, and A Room of One’s Own also proved charming.

Upon my arrival, I found fires were crackling, hors d’oeuvres being passed, a (cash) bar for collecting a glass of wine and retiring to the sitting room to enjoy while a cellist played. The cello was a little much for the small room, but the effect was pleasant overall in its sense of leisure.

Continue reading Review: A Room Of One’s Own (Bloomsbury Collective)

Review: Winners and Losers (Crow’s Theatre and Canadian Stage)

Winners and Losers

Funny friendly banter gets personal in Winners and Losers playing at Toronto’s Berkeley Street Theatre

For some people Winners and Losers, which opened at Berkeley Street Theatre last night, will remind them of an evening spent with family or friends debating and arguing a wide range of subjects. In the beginning the topics are innocuous but they get political and then personal as the evening goes on and the need to win asserts itself.

For others the evening will build to a stomach-clenching crescendo  of nastiness.

Continue reading Review: Winners and Losers (Crow’s Theatre and Canadian Stage)

Review: The Session (Things Falling Apart Theatre Company)

The Session is an emotional rollercoaster of street life, sex work and salvation at Toronto’s Red Sandcastle Theatre

The SessionThe Session is Things Falling Apart Theatre Company’s inaugural production and it’s playing this week at Red Sandcastle Theatre.

The Session tells the story of a young woman named Leslie-Haydn Burke who undergoes a psychiatric assessment and discloses the story of her life. She discusses her upbringing, leaving home at an early age, living on the streets and getting by on sex work, meeting and falling in love with a man who keeps her off the street, and the crime she commits that leads to her incarceration. Continue reading Review: The Session (Things Falling Apart Theatre Company)