Review: (Toronto / Dance) Kiss & Cry

Michèle Anne de Mey and Jaco Van Dormael, creators (photo by Maarten Vanden Abeele)

When it Comes Together
by Kallee Lins, Editor - Dance

Kiss & Cry, created by Belgium’s Charleroi Danses and opening the Canadian Stage season, is a dance piece that takes a refreshingly wide view of the discipline. The aspect that can most readily be called dance—two hands performing duets (evoking a surprising range of dance styles) on miniature sets, filmed and projected onto a large screen above the stage action—is frequently overshadowed by the incredibly precise choreography of the spectacle at large. 

Review: (Toronto) Titus Andronicus

Sean Dixon (photo by David Hou)

PG Titus? 
It’s Fine; Your Kids are Watching Game of Thrones Anyway
by Spencer Malthouse

Personally, I think there’s a benefit to exposing family audiences to violent themes in the context of canonical literature. Indeed, insofar as one can put a PG rating on suicide, rape, cannibalism, self-immolation, torture, arguable infanticide, and good old-fashioned murder, I’d say Canadian Stage has done quite well. If the kiddies don’t quite understand the language, then the parents can decide just how much they wish to explain. 

Titus Andronicus, written by a temperamental young Billy Shakespeare, is a brutal tragedy that contrasts two wronged families vying for revenge. Director Keira Loughran has styled her production a cautionary tale and seeks to idealize the blood and darkness with flourishes of red and black fabric. She has muddled her setting between imperial Japan, contemporary Japanese pop, and ancient Rome. I wish she had focused on a single theme as the gladiator helmets and the addition of a rock guitar felt anachronistically out of place. The Japanese themes do strongly evoke morality, revenge, and honourable death, which effectively complement the Roman text.

Review: (Toronto) As You Like It

Chris Hunter, Sean Dixon, Amy Rutherford  (photo by David Hou)

We’re all just Playing in the Forest
by Spencer Malthouse

There is something decidedly pleasant about watching a play set in a forest while sitting in a park. Watching Canadian Stage’s As You Like It while the sky slowly darkens is an enjoyable, comical, and above all accessible evening. Shakespeare in High Park is a wonderful way to spend an evening with family, friends, or by yourself.

This year Shakespeare in High Park presents two shows on alternating nights with the same cast. The first, As You Like It, is a classic Shakespearian gender-swap comedy. The main female, Rosalind (Amy Rutherford) disguises herself as a man – for somewhat abstruse reasons – and proceeds to test the amorous zeal of her suitor, Orlando (Alexander Plouffe). Along the way Rosalind takes up farming, encounters her father (who doesn’t recognize her because she is dressed as a man), and attracts the affections of a bitter shepherdess. Hijinks ensue and everyone ends up married: classic Shakespearean comedy.

Review: (Toronto / Dance) Tempest Replica

Photo by Jorg Baumann

Strange Choices
by Beat Rice

After a spectacular presentation of Dark Matters at Canadian Stage in 2012, expectations and anticipations were high for the return of Crystal Pite and the Kidd Pivot company, with the premiere of The Tempest Replica. 

As interesting as the piece is, it fell short of amazing or impressive. There were a few select scenes that were imaginative and danced beautifully, but as a whole the production did not hit us the same way Dark Matters did, even with the strong storyline.

The Tempest Replica tells a summarized story of Shakespeare's The Tempest through movement, projection, and a few lines of text. It starts with Prospero, folding tiny paper ships as the house enters. The show opens with the shipwreck and a massive storm. This was perhaps the most effectively staged part of the show and it was within the first five minutes. A large billowing fabric mimics the tumultuous waves and the four dancers depict the chaos of being in a torrential storm.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) Belleville

Allan Hawco, Christine Home (photo - rotated - by Guntar Kravis)

Obscurity of meaning
Pscyhological thriller strives for cohesion
by Dave Ross

“City of lovers… city of lights? Is it both?” This quote from Belleville, a Company Theatre production in association with Canadian Stage, summarizes a feeling of confusion and uncertainty that runs throughout this play. Directed by Jason Byrne, with leads Allan Hawco and Christine Horne, this play contains a level of psychological darkness that was quite surprising but at times seems to struggle in its attempt to deliver a message.

Review: (Toronto) Tribes

Joseph Ziegler and Nancy Palk in Tribes. Photo by David Hou.

Communicating your identity

Language and self at core of Tribes

by Dave Ross

Expression - how do you express yourself? What is your language? What is your community? Does your language define your community? Does your community define your language? These are some of the questions wracking my mind as I departed Tribes at the Berkeley Street Theatre last night. 

Presented by Canadian Stage, Tribes is a collaborative theatre work with Theatrefront Production and Theatre Aquarius, directed by Daryl Cloran. This work is not delicate - the boundaries between community and language are probed, challenged, crossed - and relationships are damaged as a result. Playwright Nina Raine has managed to portray some difficult questions regarding identity and community for the hearing impaired, and express parts of the hearing impaired community that I expect many who can hear don’t know about. In this play, we journey with Billy (Stephen Drabicki) as he meets and develops a relationship with Sylvia (Holly Lewis). Billy was born deaf, and is an accomplished lip-reader, but does not know how to sign. Sylvia is going deaf, but can sign eloquently. These two hearing-impaired characters clash with Billy’s family - none of whom have ever learned to sign. 

Review: (Toronto) London Road

Steve Ross and Damien Atkins (photo by David Hou)

Extreme complexity is the key
London Road an unexpected piece
by Dave Ross

The story of a community rocked by the serial killing of five prostitutes seems odd fodder for a musical, but a musical it is. And a rather pretty one at that. Canadian Stage has created a new production for London Road’s North American premiere, after a successful 2011 run at the National Theatre in the UK. 

This production is one that confounds. The story is deftly handled by playwright Alecky Blythe, with music by Adam Cork. This isn’t the story of the murders, but the story of the residents of London Road, where serial killer Steve Wright lived during his crime spree. We never meet Wright, nor his victims. The script orbits around the events taking place leading up to Wright’s arrest and beyond, through the lens of the other victims of London Road, victims just by dint of living there. In writing the play, Blythe interviewed the residents, and then transferred their words verbatim into a script. Cork then listened to these same recordings and wrote music to match, a challenge considering the necessary preservation of the rhythm of the speakers on the tapes, and the desire to preserve the timbre and pitch of the speakers as well. 

Review: (Toronto) Needles and Opium

Marc Labrèche (photo by Nicola-Frank Vachon)

When the Picture Stars
by Beat Rice

Robert Lepage never fails to visually stun Toronto audiences and successfully marry different artistic disciplines to create a magical piece of theatre. However, though the production values and transitions of his Needles and Opium flow into each other seamlessly, some elements of the story did not. 

We follow three worlds, one of a heartbroken voice actor from Quebec in the present, and one of poet Jean Cocteau and jazz musician Miles Davis in 1949 when Cocteau and Davis were in each other’s cities; Cocteau in New York and Davis in Paris. Although the two artists never knew each other personally in real life, Lepage draws the parallels of their coincidental connections. Both artists struggled with drugs, Davis with heroin and Cocteau with opium, hence Needles and Opium. Both also created masterpieces and some of their most remembered works originated during their struggle with addiction. The mix of drugs, personal turmoil, and inspiration from another city, made for excellent art. 

Review: (Toronto) Winners and Losers

Marcus Youssef and James Long (Photo by Simon Hayter)

A dialogue we want to have, but frequently don’t…
Winners and Losers a contemplative work
by Dave Ross

It’s taken me a couple of days to think about, chew on it, and roll this play around in my mind. On one hand: we have this work by two noted playwrights and performers (Marcus Youssef and James Long); performing an autobiographical piece that works with thoughts many of us have in our friendships; directed by Chris Abraham, the recent recipient of the Siminovitch Prize. This is a trio of men who punch far above their weight, and succeed in doing so. On the other hand, we have a script that while autobiographical, seems to lack cohesion in places. It makes for a challenging think.

Review: (Toronto) DESH

The Magic of Homeland
by Beat Rice

DESH means Homeland in Bengali, the mother tongue of ancestors of dancer and choreographer Akram Khan. It is also what he is trying to a make a connection with in his solo work. His 80-minute piece is magical. It is a visual feast, full of story and imagery, and emotions that you cannot always understand, just feel.

DESH is very much a personal exploration of identity and displacement, and all of the frustrations that come with trying to figure those out. A recurring image in the piece is a small plant growing in soil. It remains in plain view and we watch Khan protect it, uproot, it, and replant it: a clear metaphor of the internal struggle for people born to another culture from their parents and ancestors. The piece is split into different scenes, all with different aesthetics and methods of storytelling, the main one being movement. We meet different characters in Khan’s life, get lost with him in the streets of Bangladesh, and watch what I can only describe as a live storybook.

Sunday Feature: Rick Miller on Venus in Fur and "Comfort"

‘COMFORT’

by Rick Miller (photos by David Hou)

“You don't have to tell me about sadomasochism. I'm in the theatre!”

(from Venus in Fur, a play by David Ives, 

adapted from the novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch)

Judging from the photo above, the idea of ‘comfort’ seems an appropriate lens through which to examine Venus in Fur, the play I’m currently co-starring in with Carly Street at Canadian Stage in Toronto. This Tony Award-winning two-hander by playwright David Ives is now the most produced play in the United States, and it’s easy to see why. It’s smart, sexy and seductively entertaining, while tapping into ongoing debates about gender inequality, power struggles and sexual mores.

CanStage artistic director Matthew Jocelyn uses the word “labyrinthine” when speaking about Venus in Fur. It’s an apt description, in that the play leads us through a jarring set of twist and turns as it spirals to its quasi-mythical climax. The ‘comfort zone’ that is established early on with the audience slowly dissolves and becomes more and more unsettling and uncomfortable. When the lights come up from the final blackout and we settle back into the familiarity of a curtain call, Carly and I both feel the rush of having taken the audience – and ourselves – on an incredible ride.

Review: (Toronto) Yukon Style

Ryan Cunningham and Grace Lynn Kung (Photo by Bruce Zinger)

Polar Winter Viewed On A Frosty Stage
by joel fishbane

Filled with poetic majesty and some thrilling dramatic moments, Yukonstyle by Quebec playwright Sarah Berthiaume fights very hard to be an important theatrical experience. Set during a polar winter in the Yukon, the play drops four offbeat characters into a world of racism, addiction and coathanger abortions, all set to a soundtrack of the media storm that surrounded the Robert Pickton murders. The ingredients for great drama are there. Yet somehow, despite supreme efforts from all involved, the final product still falls a little flat.

Most of the trouble comes from Berthiaume’s text, which has been deftly translated by Nadine Desrochers. Both Berthiaume and Desrocher know their way around a sentence and the play shifts from realistic dialogue to stylized third-person narration, where each character steps outside the action to provide the sort of gorgeous prose you often find in a book. The language itself is like a great river that sweeps you along and carries you into a world where magical realism mingles with the everyday.

Review: (Toronto) Venus in Fur

Rick Miller, Carly Street (photo by David Hou)

All hail Aphrodite!
…Venus in Fur is sublime
by Dave Ross

What is S&M? I’m fairly certain the average person on the street has heard of it, but can they define it? I expect not. My own definition is loose – I understand that S&M exists in the tension between dominance and submission. It isn’t necessarily sexual, but isn’t entirely non-sexual either. Does it involve leather? Perhaps. Does it involve pain? Not always. S&M exists in one of those murky areas, a kink for many, a mainstay for some. It is nearly impossible to nail down, but is defined by the tensions that exist between two polar opposites. 

News: (Toronto) Canadian Stage announces surplus and hires (press release)

Review: (Toronto) The Flood Thereafter

Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster (Photo by Bruce Zinger)

Disturbances
by Ramya Jegatheesan  

@RamyaJImages 

In a sleepy little fishing town somewhere in Quebec, a mermaid is pulled from the river. She ensnares the men, and soon the town becomes a ghost town bereft of wives and work. 

Twenty years later, the mermaid serves up fish and chips at a local dive while her daughter strips in a bar as the men weep, spellbound by her beauty but cursed because any one of them could be her father.  

Québecois playwright Sarah Berthiaume’s The Flood Thereafter (translated by Nadine Desrochers) is a beautifully lyrical play that delights in taboo. Incest, infidelity, and the contested female body are all woven into this darkly fantastical narrative. 

Review: (Toronto) Taming of the Shrew

Sophie Goulet and Kevin MacDonald (photo by David Hou)

Hot Balls 
by Winna Tse

@tsewinna

How ballsy. That was my first thought after seeing The Taming of the Shrew (henceforth The Shrew) in High Park this year. It takes tremendous skill to pull off this contemporary adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays. Brought to us by Canadian Stage Production and the Department of Theatre at the Faculty of Fines Arts, York University, director Ted Witzel's refreshing rendition stays quite true to its original form. 

Review: (Toronto) Macbeth

Philippa Domville and Hugh Thompson (phot by David Hou)

Canadian Stage Takes Summer by Storm with Macbeth
this Macbeth is a bull who charges forward and destroys everything in his wake
joel fishbane

Shakespeare has come to Toronto and, thanks to the folk at the Canadian Stage Company, he’s hit the park running. CanStage has launched its 31rst season of Shakespeare in High Park with a sharp and visually arresting production of Macbeth that works surprisingly well under the stars: the sombre mood of the setting sun perfectly fits the darker tones of the play, with shadows creeping across the stage almost as if working under orders from director Ker Wells.

Wells and Company have given some new tricks to a play that can seem like a very old dog. The story, for the two people out there who don’t know, involves a Scottish thane who conspires to become king after some witches reveal that a crown lies in his future. A lot of blood and ghostly business ensues. Here, thanks to a lean edit and some creative interpretation of the text, the story is heightened to something more then just the usual tale of violence and ambition.

Review: (Toronto) RACE

Jason Priestley (photo by David Hou)

Pacing to the end
RACE is whip-fast look at what divides us…
by Dave Ross

This is Canadian Stage’s 25th Anniversary season, and as it draws to a close, they are doing so with a nod to their original season, offering David Mamet’s RACE, just as they offered Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross all those years ago. But this play is more than just a nod towards their inaugural season. It is a fast, sharp, and unpleasant exploration of race in America. 

Mamet’s script is painful in its acidity, and in the reality of the dialogue. The almost complete exclusion of contractions from the script reminds the audience that this is theatre, a manufactured event, but the situation is not. A wealthy white man is accused of raping a young black woman, and he seeks representation from a firm in town willing to take his case. The firm has two high-powered attorneys, one white, and one black. This is the centre of the story, but the script uses dialogue to explore and expose race. What it reveals is uncomfortable in its authenticity. 

Review: (Toronto) THIS

Christian Laurin and Yanna McIntosh Photo by Bruce Zinger.

THIS is truly a state of being…
by Dave Ross

Melissa James Gibson’s THIS opened at Canadian Stage last night. It’s the first time her work has been shown in Toronto, but I hope we get to see more soon. THIS is, to quote from the program “a play about ‘this’: the designated ‘what I am in the middle of,’ precluding distance, perspective, appreciation, evaluation. It is my reality here and now, this thing I am living, this ‘not anything else’. These words are a bit meta for my liking, but they so accurately portray the effect of this production, which plays with the physical theatre space while exploring ‘this’ — the state of being for and between each character. 

Review: (Toronto) Someone Else

Kristen Thomson
(photo credit: Guntar Kravis / cropped) 

The Shadows of Middle Age
by Greg Bunker

Head check! Crow's Theatre’s Someone Else is a black comedy that has you in fits of laughter, asking “Did that just happen?!” one moment, then, “Did that just happen?!” in horror the next. It’s a deep, dark rollercoaster ride well worth the admission.

The story begins with comedian Cathy (Kristen Thomson, of I, Claudia fame, and also the playwright) and her doctor husband Peter (Tim Rooney), whose 18-year marriage is on the rocks. Cathy’s feelings of discontent have come to a head and, suspecting Peter of having an affair, Cathy turns to marriage counselling for help. She sees their lives diverging; their marriage is emptying out before her, and Cathy’s struggling to stop it, or at least understand it. Peter, however, appears unconcerned.