Review: (Toronto) Birdy (Fringe)

Circumstance and Emotions
by joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

Sombre and serious right from the start, Birdy, written and performed by Karie Richards, is a one-woman show that dives headfirst into intimate territory as it crafts a portrait of a girl, her father and the issue of mental illness that at once divides and unites them. It’s a deadly earnest script which is given an equally earnest performance. This isn’t always to the script’s benefit; while intense and emotional, the show at times teeters on the edge of self-indulgence which threatens to detract from its impact.

Review: (Toronto) No Chance In Hell - A Musical (Fringe)

When Hell Is Heaven
by joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

As irreverent as it is entertaining, No Chance in Hell - A New Musical succeeds in being something that’s all too rare these days: a musical comedy that’s actually musical and a comedy. With no aspirations other than to be entertaining, writers Chris John (book and lyrics) and Kevin Fox (music) have crafted a song and dance confection that, with its echoes of Damn Yankees, calls us back to the musicals of the golden age.The show isn’t perfect, but that’s something that can be fixed the next time around – and let’s hope there is a next time, hopefully in a production that includes the same talented cast.

Review: (Toronto) Ancient History (Fringe)

All Ives, All The Time
by joel fishbone
@joelfishbane

A sharply written one-act by one of America’s great modern playwrights, Ancient History is eternally unassuming, pretending to be a simple romantic comedy as it delves into such thorny issues as bigotry and anti-Semitism. Written by David Ives, the play was written in 1989 but is only now getting its Canadian premiere thanks to Aware! Productions who have brought it to the Toronto Fringe with a decent, if at times underwhelming, production.

Review: (Toronto) Return (Fringe)

(photo by Zahra Saleki)

Fusing
by joel fishbane

A performance piece that melds dance, movement, spoken word, and theatre, Return is an intriguing experience even if the last third falls a little flat. The show follows the early years of an unnamed girl (played by Caitlin Hutt) whose inner life is given a physical voice thanks to two dancers (Rebecca Bobrovskis and Alyssa Bartlett). Confronting issues of loneliness, cyber-bullying, and substance abuse, Return deals admirably with some heavy issues yet still fails to create a satisfying resolution.

Review: (Toronto) I Was Born White (Fringe)

Unconventional
by joel fishbone

@joelfishbane

I Was Born White is essentially a dance piece, something I may be ill equipped to review. There are theatrical elements to the piece but there is no plot and little story. The piece is a physical exploration of a situation rife with emotion: an adopted girl, born white, eventually comes to realize she’s black. It’s an intriguing circumstance full of dramatic possibilities, but this performance is more interested in exploring the ideas through movement and spoken word. 

Review: (Toronto) Komunka (Fringe)

Promises, Promises
joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

More theatrical exploration than theatre, Komunka is an improvised piece of theatre that focuses around the lives of several Russians living in a komunka,  or communal apartment. Working from scenarios developed in the rehearsal room, the actors play out a series of scenes that deal with themes of abuse, homophobia, and despair. As an acting exercise, it’s fascinating and unique. As a piece of theatre, it fails more often than it succeeds.

Review: (Toronto) Rulers of the Universe - A Love Story (Fringe)

Sketch - Always a Mixed Bag
by joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

A strong ensemble fights against a mixed bag of sketches in Rulers of the Universe: A Love Story. The various sketches, which run from Duelling Scalpers to a store where a Gold Card membership gains you some very special perks, all begin with a clever premise but only occasionally manage to spin it into true comedic gold. This is despite the talents of the troupe, a motley assortment of comedians, actors and improvisers.

Review: (Toronto) Redheaded Stepchild (Fringe)

Beat Up
by joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

With a crackerjack script and a fireball at its centre, Redheaded Stepchild is the sort of show that feels both familiar and new all at the same time. All the usual tropes of the one-man show are there: multiple characters, a premise torn from the author’s experience, quirky comedy, and true pathos somewhere near the end. But in the hands of writer / performer Johnnie Walker, it all feels surprisingly new. 

Review: (Toronto) If It's Not Too Much Trouble (Fringe)

Hidden
by joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

There’s a good play hiding at the heart of If It’s Not Too Much Trouble, which is probably why it won the Toronto Fringe’s 25 Hour Playwriting Contest back in 2013. Playwright Trevor Poelman knows his way around a punchline and has a good ear for the sort of pop-cultured infused dialogue that made shows like Veronica Mars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer so distinctive. But the current incarnation of the script isn’t quite ready for prime-time. Despite the best efforts of the young cast, the show simply can’t sustain our interest.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) A Beautiful View

A Beautiful View, but it lacks an uglier side
by joel fishbane

A new production of Daniel MacIvor’s A Beautiful View has blown into Toronto and it has brought with it some admirable talent. The two-decade old Volcano Theatre has paired improv performer Becky Johnson with veteran NTS graduate Amy Rutherford to explore MacIvor’s drama about two women whose inability to put a convenient label on their unique friendship leads to conflict and complication. The result is a unique mix that, while entertaining, only occasionally illuminates MacIvor’s text.

Two unnamed women (Johnson and Rutherford) reunite to tell us the story of their relationship through re-enactment, monologue and commentary – often they break out of a scene to make remarks on what’s just occurred or defend their actions to the audience. It’s a fascinating theatrical technique but this production, directed by Ross Manson, seems uninterested in exploring it. Instead, Manson seems more focused on adding movement and physicality to the play as a way of exploring, presumably, the inner lives of the play’s two enigmatic characters.

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) The Foursome

(photo by Angela Besharah Inside Light Studio)

MUCH TO ADMIRE IN THIS MERRY BAND OF TENNIS PLAYERS 
by joel fishbane

There’s a lot to admire in The Foursome, the dark comedy by Jane Ford that’s being produced by Toronto’s Sterling Studio Theatre Collective: it’s a new Canadian work penned by a woman and featuring an all-female cast. This alone is such an exciting combination that one is tempted to be a lot kinder to the text which is, sadly, not quite ready for prime time. This isn’t to say Jane Ford isn’t talented; merely that audiences are being treated to what is clearly a second draft.

The plot revolves around the impact that peppy Dylan (Caitlin Driscoll) has on a trio of tennis players who need a fourth player. Dylan’s influence leads Tanda (Kirsten Johnson) to gain new self-esteem while Jaz (Kathryn Greenwood) and Kris (playwright Jane Ford) are made to confront dark secrets they’ve been hiding for years. All the ingredients are in place for a comedy that offers opportunities for new and unique glimpses into the modern women….yet, while the play is often funny, the plot meanders and skirts the chance for true drama. 

Theatre For Thought, August 24, 2013

I GUESS THIS IS GOODBYE….
joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

About two and a half years ago – February, 2011 to be precise – the good people at New South Books released a bowdlerized edition of Huckleberry Finn. I was proud of them – not for censoring the work but for having the common decency to let the world know they were doing it. I promptly wrote an article on the subject and the folks at The Charlebois Post printed it. Then, for reasons unbeknownst to man, CharPo offered me the chance to shoot my mouth off once a week about the arts. 

Well it’s been about 160 weeks now, give or take, and I regret to announce that I’m hanging up my mouth, at least in a weekly capacity. While I will continue to file reports and theatre reviews from time to time, this will be my last Theatre for Thought column.

Theatre For Thought, August 17, 2013

TRAGEDY IN THE PARK
joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

Summer’s almost over but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still time for that quintessential of all summer experiences – Shakespeare in the Park. Nor is it your usual band of lovers and clowns: across Canada, producers are trying to see how the Bard’s tragedies fare when performed under the setting sun. And it’s about time. There’s only so many times a person can sit through A Midsummer Night’s Dream, no matter how glorious the production. 

Thankfully, this summer Canadians have other choices to make. While Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan is performing A Comedy of Errors, they’re also giving us an outdoor production of Macbeth. They aren’t the only ones bringing the cursed Scottish play to the parks: Toronto’s Canadian Stage is presenting their own take (You can read my review here). Meanwhile both Halifax’s Shakespeare by the Sea and Ontario’s St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival are turning Elsinore into a park in their versions of Hamlet.

Review: (Toronto) Wild Dogs on the Moscow Trains (SummerWorks)

WILD DOGS GIVE A HELL OF A BITE
by joel fishbane

Part Chekhov, part Christopher Hampton, Wild Dogs on the Moscow Trains is an old fashioned play with a hell of a lot of bite. Written by Anthony MacMahon, a playwriting member of the Soulpepper Academy, Wild Dogs uses the 2011 Moscow Riots as a backdrop for exploring the lives of three young Russians lost in a city that, as one character describes it, is just a body on live support – a heart without a brain. Fortunately, the play is nothing like Russia. Wild Dogs has both a heart and a brain – and they’re working at full steam.

Review: (Toronto) girls! girls! girls! (SummerWorks)

THE CRUELTY OF CHILDREN
by joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

The great Satanic joy of Greg MacArthur’s girls! girls! girls! is how innocuous it all seems; what starts off as a comical look at precocious small town children quickly spirals into something much darker. It’s a bit of a sinister magic trick, one which the new production by Present Danger Productions, premiering at SummerWorks, clearly understands. A smart and elegant production, the cast – shepherded by directors Jessica Carmichael and Donna Marie Baratta – merrily lead the audience down the shadowy road. 

Theatre For Thought, August 3, 2013

A MESSAGE FROM THE SURGEON GENERAL
joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

A recent article in The Guardian has been making the rounds online; it seems Australian playwright Lachlan Philpott removed his name from a production of his play Alienation. He also went so far as to put a note on every seat in the auditorium informing the audience that “this production does not reflect my original script or communication intentions of the playwright.” The article, by blogger Lynn Gardner, went on to discuss the thorny relationship between authors and producers and asked why “it seem[s] perfectly acceptable to change Shakespeare but not mess with Chekhov or cut lines Philpott?”

First, Ms. Gardner, let’s clear up a point. It is “perfectly acceptable” to change Chekhov, Shakespeare or Philpott so long as you advertise the fact: audience have a right to know they are watching an adaptation. What is not “perfectly acceptable” is attributing authorship when it is not deserved. Take Canadian Stage’s production of Macbeth currently playing in Toronto’s High Park. It’s a great and glorious production, but it is not Shakespeare’s Macbeth. There are textual edits and director Ker Wells interpolates a new ending that is different from anything Shakespeare envisioned. 

Theatre For Thought, July 27, 2013

A WARNING BELL RINGS ACROSS THE POND
joel fishbane
@joelfishbane

A controversial sex show is “shocking” audiences at the Winnipeg Fringe according to a recent report from CBC. Hollywood Hen Pit is an improvisational show concerning the life of an aging Hollywood starlet. Performed by two nude actors (Doug Melnyk and Ian Mozdzen), the show features simulated oral sex and actual enemas, reportedly involving mayonnaise. If the comments page on CBC is to be believed, the really “shocking” part of Hollywood Hen Pit isn’t the content of the show; rather, it’s the idea that tax payer money may in some way be responsible for the show’s existence.

This has become a quintessentially Canadian argument – our arts system is primarily funded by the government through grants and taxpayers naturally begin to complain how their tax dollars are being used. The Department of Canadian Heritage is currently funding projects that “foster greater awareness and understanding among Canadians of the importance of the War of 1812 in our history” – ignoring those of us who think the War of 1812 has no part in our history. Meanwhile, back in 2011, a major controversy sprung up around Toronto’s SummerWork’s Festival when the Toronto Sun wrote a series of editorials criticizing the festival for including a play (Homegrown by Catherine Frid) that, in the Sun’s opinion, glorified terrorism.

Theatre For Thought, July 20, 2013

KUSHNER’S HUMAN HEART, BLOODY AND BOLD
joel fishbane

The last time I saw Tony Kushner’s Angels in America – which has just returned to Toronto for the first time in years - it was at the National Theatre School in Montreal. The graduating class was producing Perestroika, the second part of Kushner’s epic “gay fantasia on national themes”. It was an odd choice for a solo production. Perestroika isn’t so much a sequel as it is a direct continuation of the story; watching it without Part I (called Millennium Approaches) is a lot like watching Acts IV and V of Hamlet without watching Acts I – III.  

Fortunately, people in Toronto don’t have to make that choice. Soulpepper Theatre is producing both parts and running them in repertoire this summer – they’re even offering marathon days that will allow audience members to see both parts back to back. It’s nine hours long and, whatever the merits of the production itself, the show deserves to be seen if only for the sublimely written script.

Review: (Toronto) It's Always You (Fringe)

Sketch comedy masquerades as musical
by Joel Fishbane
@joelfishbane

Different realities play themselves out in It’s Always You, a show that is being mistakenly advertised as a musical. Yes, there are songs but they are slight and do little to advance story or theme; unfortunately, much of the text has the same problem. It’s Always You is sketch comedy masquerading as a complete play and the results are decidedly mixed.

The idea is simple enough: once upon a time, Elaine (Sheila McCarthy), Bill (Dan Redican) and Ted (Shawn Thompson) were all friends. Then something sent them spiralling in different directions. What if we could see the result of these diverging roads?