Here is what’s going on in Toronto theatre this week. There are several great shows to catch for the week of October 28th, 2013. ** Shows marked with the double asterisks and in red are the ones that make Wayne, our Managing Editor, wish he could exist in multiple parallel universes so he could check them all out.
Continue reading Eye Catching Theatre for the Week of October 28th 2013
The Double, now onstage at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre Extraspace, is an entirely engaging journey. It is based on Dostoëvsky’s novella of the same name, and is the story of one man’s descent into self-doubt and stark, raving madness.
A stroganoff of comedy, slapstick, mime, music humour and terror, The Double is a delicious play that you’ll find yourself immersed in. It’s comprised of two different acts. During intermission you’ll likely be tweeting great things about it and inviting friends while the second course is being prepared.
One of the fantastic things about fringe festivals is that you get to see amazing stuff before it becomes the ‘next big thing’. The idea of following something from its beginnings on the fringe stage as it continues to moves through the various stages of its artistic life is certainly exciting.
In 2012 Bound To Create presented a critically-acclaimed and nearly sold-out version of dirty butterfly. If you had the chance to see it then it means you are now in the position of being able to do that exciting following of a life cycle. Bound To Create will be opening dirty butterfly at Daniel’s Spectrum this Friday, November 1 (previews start Wednesday) as part of the Obsidian Theatre Company’s Presentation Series.
Sucker (at the Storefront) is presented as a Halloween entertainment–and coming away from it afterwards, this is an extremely apt description.
There’s blood. Lots and lots of blood. People die excruciating, humiliating deaths. There are vampires and occultists and murderers and attorneys. The story is warped and twisted, and–as with all good haunted houses–there’s a damned good scare right at the very end.
But, eventually, the party has to wind down. The lights come on, and suddenly, things crystallize. The creatures are constructed of makeup and papier maché; the blood comes from a gallon jug bought at a party store. Underneath all these gruesome masks are five very ordinary people pretending to be monsters.
At least, we hope they’re pretending.
Continue reading Review: Sucker (Blood, Sweat & Blood Collective)
As soon as I heard that Litmus Theatre was staging their production of Birth of Frankenstein in a 19th century church I knew that I had to see it. Matchbox Macbeth, which they performed in a garage in 2011, was wonderful. Litmus is an inventive, imaginative theatre company and I expected that Birth of Frankenstein would be special.
It was. From the minute that I walked through the doors into the church it felt like an adventure.
Continue reading Review: Birth of Frankenstein (Litmus Theatre)