Review: (Toronto) The Game of Love and Chance

Gil Garratt (photo credit: lucetg.com)

Taking Chances

Marivaux continues to seduce

by Jessica Yen

Hot on the heels of a month-long run at the Centaur Theatre, The Game of Love and Chance has finally arrived at the Bluma Appel Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto. This close to 300 year old farce written by Marivaux and adapted and translated by Nicolas Billon will have you smiling in your seat. 

Profile: Zach Fraser of The Game of Love and Chance

Trish Lindström and Zach Fraser in

The Game of Love and Chance (photo credit: lucetg.com)

Globetrotting on a Bicycle...

...with a Puppet 

by Amanda Siino

Halifax, London, Paris, Singapore, Montreal – these cities are all brought together by a Montreal actor, director, puppeteer, professor and family man, Zach Fraser.

The six- foot tall Fraser has been most recently involved in Centaur’s new production of Marivaux’s The Game of Love and Chance.  

“This project is a co-production with Can Stage in Toronto. So most of the actors are out of Toronto and most of the design team is French Québécois. Then there are the few of us who are neither Québécois nor from Toronto, so it’s a nice coming together,” he said while drinking his cappuccino.  

Review: (Montreal) The Game of Love and Chance

Gemma James-Smith and Gil Garratt (photo credit: lucetg.com)

Marivaudages

A play brought back to greatness

by Chris Lane

Once in a while a modern adaptation of an old text comes along that is both fresh and classic, and Centaur Theatre’s production of The Game of Love and Chance manages to be just that. The play was written in the 17th century by the French master Pierre de Marivaux, who is particularly known for the unique way he manipulates language. Local playwright Nicolas Billon has recently written a new translation of the work, and he succeeds at maintaining the playful wit of Marivaux’s words while making the language modern and accessible (and of course, English). The director, Matthew Jocelyn (Artistic Director of Toronto's Canadian Stage - where this production is headed), shows his expertise in adapting Marivaux’s work in this uproarious production.