Review: (Toronto / Theatre) The God That Comes

(photo by Trudi Lee)

Euripides, Redux
by Lucy Wells

The Tarragon Theatre is currently in its last show of the season, Hawksley Workman and Christian Barry’s The God That Comes, produced by 2b Theatre Company. A one-man cabaret of Euripides’ Bacchae, this is a stirring and often hilarious work.

Hawksley Workman is in fine form as he narrates the story, as well as playing the king, the king’s mother, and the god Bacchus. Workman changes characters by making minimal costume changes, putting on a hat or a boa; and by changing his voice, whether by switching registers (he sings in a lovely falsetto as the mother), or by singing into a megaphone (as the militaristic king).  To reinforce the changing characters, three  mannequin heads along the back of the stage are lit in turn to suggest who’s singing.  It’s a helpful touch, and Workman is effective in acting out the different roles – I might normally have found this constant shifting of characters rather difficult to follow, but I had no problem here.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) A God In Need Of Help

(photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Definitely Not Black and White
by Keely Kwok

Four men dressed in black, bound, with sacks on their heads. A fifth man strapped to a board, whimpering in pain. Two representatives, one from the church and one from state. And one long expositional monologue.

These were the opening moments of Sean Dixon’s A God in Need of Help that, despite dynamic staging, made me think maybe God wasn’t the only one. But I am very happy to say that this feeling was fleeting. For as soon as the story got underway, I was won over by its charm thanks to the charismatic performances of the actors and the clever direction of Richard Rose.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) Soliciting Temptations

Derek Boyes, Miriam Fernandes (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Guided Into The Dark
by Beat Rice

Directed by Andrea Donaldson, Soliciting Temptations explores the themes surrounding sex tourism and is very much a debate between the characters, Man and Girl. Man justifies the men who employ the services of young sex workers and the women who provide them should not be shamed. Girl argues that women are forced to do the bidding of men and the men who call on them are pigs. More in depth questions related to power struggles within gender, sex, prostitution, class, are discussed. We discover that Girl is not just some local who arrives at his hotel room for paid sex. She has her own motivations. There is so much that this play could ‘be about’. To me, it comes down to two people who are struggling with their own feelings of loneliness, desire, and self-induced guilt.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) Marry Me a Little

Adrian Marchuck, Elodie Gillett  (Photo by Cylla von Tiedemannn)

Ah, But Underneath . . .
Sondheim reviewsical plumbs the depths of relationships and love
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

Sometimes even when everything is perfect in love, nothing is actually going right. Such is the case with our young couple in Tarragon’s Marry me a Little. This review musical, like Putting it Together and Side by Side by Sondheim before it, uses lesser known songs by master composer Stephen Sondheim (in this case, mostly songs that were cut from shows early in his career) to tell an original story – a young composer and a young performer meet, fall in love, and fall apart.

OK. So the plot may not be all that original, but in the hands of more-than-capable director, Adam Brazier, and performers Elodie Gillett and Adrian Marchuk, this piece soars off the stage. As the young writer, Mr. Marchuk is full of passion and life. His powerful voice easily fills the intimate Tarragon Mainspace, and his comic timing is absolutely to die for. But this is nothing compared to the raw emotion he exhibits at the show’s finale. As the young performer, Ms. Gillett is nearly as strong. While her voice is a tad too thin to hold its own against Marchuk’s, she more than makes up for this with her natural ease on stage – she’s funny, warm and charming, and it’s easy to see why these two would fall in love. 

Sunday Feature: First-person - Priscila Uppal on 6 Essential Questions

Fear of Brazilians, Mothers, and other Essential Things
by Priscila Uppal

Priscila Uppal is an internationally-acclaimed Toronto poet, fiction writer, essayist, memoirist, playwright, and York University professor. Among her publications are eight collections of poetry, including Ontological Necessities (shortlisted for the $50,000 Griffin Poetry Prize); and the novels The Divine Economy of Salvation (2002) and To Whom It May Concern (2009). Time Out London dubbed her “Canada’s coolest poet.” The World Premiere of 6 Essential Questions is based loosely on the memoir.

Since I am a poet, I will begin with a poem.

I’m Afraid of Brazilians or Visiting the Ancestral Homeland is Not the Great Ethnic Experience Promised by Other Memoirs

Against all political correctness, 
I must say it,
I must admit:
I’m afraid of Brazilians.

I don’t like them.
I don’t like this country.
I don’t like this language.
I don’t even like this currency. 

And not in the mystical sense.
Or the abstract.
Or the perfectly hypothetical.

I can’t blame this fear
on movies, or television programming,
or the front covers
of Time magazine.
No.

I’m afraid of Brazilians.
I am visiting Brazil
(my mother’s country)
and I’m afraid, truly afraid
of every Brazilian I meet.

This is not something you can say
in a poem, you tell me.
Please don’t compose this poem
here: in broad daylight
where any self-respecting Brazilian
could feel perfectly justified
peeking over your shoulder
to see what you’ve written.

Please, not so loud, you say.
You haven’t given them a chance.

You’re right, I admit.
(I can certainly admit it.)
I’ve given them no chance
to please me. Don’t you 

understand, this is the nature
of being afraid, and this is
the nature of the poem
I am writing, which must
get written, no matter
what the climate

or the reception
(here, in my mother’s country
or abroad
or in my own ears).

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) Lungs

Brendan Gall, Lesley Faulkner (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

The Last Taboo
by Ramya Jegatheesan

M and W are in line at Ikea when M pops a question: babies?  

Cue avalanche of existential proportions. 

Are you a bad person if you bring a baby into a world where sea levels are rising? Where the human species is facing possible extinction? Where you would only add to the human footprint? 

What follows is a frank, intense and entertaining glimpse into the dreams, crises, and dilemmas facing today’s generation.  

You may not always like M (Brendan Gall) and W (Lesley Faulkner). They are flawed, but unapologetically real, and you come to understand them if not love them. And in Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs you are a fly on the wall in the most intimate and explosive of conversations a couple can have: should we have a baby?

Review: (Toronto) The Ugly One

Jesse Aaron Dwyre (photo by Bronwen Sharp)

Image, Identity and $$$
by Ramya Jegatheesan

Poor Lette. His wife can’t bear the sight of him, and his boss thinks he’s too ugly to sell his own inventions. 

“You can’t sell anything with that face,” he says. 

Not about to let an attractive underling (Jesse Aaron Dwyre) swoop in and be the face of his invention, the distraught plug inventor (David Jansen) decides to confront his own ugliness. 

This lands him on the doorstep of a resourceful plastic surgeon (Hardee T. Lineham) who, despite his revulsion to Lette’s looks, is persuaded to take a stab at improving his face. 

Bonus Feature: First Person - David Powell of Puppetmongers on Tea at the Palace

Tea (and cookies) at the Palace!
Historical references loaded with innuendo are not usual lines in children’s theatre pieces, but all part and parcel of a Puppetmongers’ show. 
by David Powell (photos by Dahlia Katz)

Puppetmongers Theatre presents the work of the Canadian brother and sister team of Ann and David Powell, who are internationally recognized as leaders and innovators in the field of puppetry.  They have developed a dozen new plays for both young and general audiences, which have earned a combined total of 11 Dora Award nominations.  They have been short-listed twice for the Chalmers new Canadian Play for Young Audiences Award and received four Citations of Excellence from l’Union International de la Marionette (US).  They have also received the Award for Artistic Excellence from the Puppeteers of America, and the President’s Award, a medal which has also been awarded to Jim Henson (Muppets), Julie Taymor (Lion King) and fellow Canadian puppeteers Ronnie Burkett and Coad Canada.   

Puppetmongers was founded by my sister Ann and me as a continuation of our complex childhood play.  The Christmas Ann was 8 and I was 7, our parents gave Ann a marionette as a gift.  We used our Christmas money to buy another each, and we were off to the races.  Puppetry became the focus of our time together during all our holidays home from separate boarding schools. We were doing small shows by the time we were 14, but certainly did not conceive of it as a career.  Eventually, we ended up at Ontario College of Art & Design simultaneously, where we were generously given a room for our puppetry experiments.  We formally incorporated in 1974, and we were soon performing in over 100 Toronto schools a year, touring widely across Canada, regularly performing at festivals around the world and winning international theatre awards – but we were completely unknown to the Toronto general public.  So we approached the late Urjo Kareda, then Artistic Director at the Tarragon Theatre.  He knew our Brick Bros. Circus from those wonderful Tarragon Theatre Spring Arts Fairs (we do miss them so!), and he generously ushered us into his Back Space theatre to run a show during their downtime over the Winter Holidays.  Thus was started a Toronto Theatre Tradition that has endured for almost 25 years. 

Review: (Toronto) The Valley

Ian Lake and Colin Mercer (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

The Sacrosanct Sphere
by Zoe Erwin-Longstaff

Set up like an office furniture showroom, all in muted artichoke and beige, the Tarragon Mainspace was arranged as an alley, which is theatre-speak for audience on either side of the stage. This requires that we encroach on the world of the play in order to take our seats – a movement, common enough, though it still somehow feels like a violation. But, while we traipsed across, one area remained unalloyed. At centre stage there was a perfect circle, an orb of seraphic light. This space, the healing circle, intimidates even the four actors at first; they deliver thoughtful monologues at its perimeter, basking in its warm light, but never stepping in. Then, all of a sudden, the narrative lurches forward, vulnerabilities reveal themselves, and before long characters aren’t so much stepping in as stomping across or collapsing in defeat, in this once sacrosanct sphere. 

Review: (Toronto) The Double

Adam Paolozza, Viktor Likawski (photo by Lacey Creighton)

Move over Gollum, there’s a new neurotic in town. 

by Keely Kwok 

It’s almost the end of Act Two. The bass picks up the pace, a lively tune, and Viktor Lukawski (as one of the many caricatures he plays) yanks a vintage microphone from the wings. “What’s this doing here?” he wonders with a chuckle and some doo-wop pizzazz. 

Then he announces what we’ve all been waiting for: Golyadkin and his Double Act! 

Oh he couldn’t possibly, it would be indecent! Wait, yes he can. No really, he shouldn’t. Forget it, give him the mic! And a confident Golydkin (Adam Paolozza) breaks out into song accompanied by musical genius, Arif Mirabdolbaghi, on the double bass. Golydkin cleverly changes the lyrics to classic tunes like “Just the Two of Us” and “Man in the Mirror” to make light of he, himself and well, himself. It’s little contemporary touches like this that make The Double feel so fresh. 

Review: (Toronto) carried away on the crest of a wave

Richard Zeppieri, Mayko Nguyenn (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Brought Together by What Tears us Apart
carried away on the crest of a wave is a stunning new addition to the list of great Canadian plays
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

“I am the one who pulled you out of the water. And you can call me if you ever need that again.”

These two sentences, spoken towards the end of Act I of David Yee’s new play, carried away on the crest of a wave, sum up everything this new Canadian work is hoping to express. The brilliance of it is that it is only at the play’s end that one is fully able to put the pieces together and realize why. Simultaneously, Yee’s first work as Tarragon’s playwright-in-residence cements his position as a voice worth listening to, not just now, but over the years to come.

Inspired by the 2004 Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami, the play is no simple retelling of the events of that tragic day. Rather, it explores its aftermath – sometimes in the hours immediately after, sometimes years later – in the hopes of answering one question: “what happens when the events that tie us together are the same that tear us apart?” This is no simple question, and there is no simple answer.

Review: (Toronto) And Slowly Beauty...

Christian Murray and Dennis Fitzgerald (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Theatre shines a light on the desire for life’s reset button.
by Christian Baines

Could an evening with Chekhov change a man’s life? Some would say yes, only insofar as tempting him to end it, a criticism slyly referenced in And Slowly Beauty… A clever, inventive and transparently post-modern piece of work, it lays bare one of theatre’s most common goals: that it might hold a mirror up to our own lives in a way that provokes and entertains.

For a good chunk of its time, And Slowly Beauty… achieves that outcome handsomely, fleshing out the mundane, instantly recognizable aspects of Mr. Mann’s (Dennis Fitzgerald) life with humour and a strong kinetic energy that brings a wonderful lightness to its absurdities. The audience longs for a disruption to this cycle as much as Mann does, as he endures tiresome co-workers literally speaking in gibberish, a failing marriage, directionless children, dying friends and desire for a woman he cannot have. 

Review: (Toronto) Hannah Moscovitch Double Bill

Little One with Joe Cobden and Michelle Monteith (photo: Nir Baraket)

MOSCOVTICH SHOWS HER METTLE
joel fishbane

Hannah Moscovitch continues to prove why she’s one of Canada’s most produced playwrights with a pair of contemporary one-acts now playing at Tarragon Theatre. The effect the children of others have on our lives is the theme of both Little One and, appropriately, Other People’s Children, two sharp pieces of writing that are well served by stylish productions. Best of all, each show features different casts that are perfectly suited to the work they have been given.

Of the two plays, Little One is the clear champion, an eerie thriller that proves horror can work in the theatre when it’s in the right hands. Aaron (Joe Cobden) recounts his childhood with his abusive adopted sister Claire (Michelle Monteith), a girl he describes as a monster. Cobden is pitch-perfect in the role, his laconic demeanour making us sympathize with him even as his behaviour becomes less sympathetic. Full disclosure here: I went to school with Cobden and have long been a fan of his work. Here, it seems as if he was made for the role, smoothly transforming from the modern day, affable Aaron into his moody teenage counterpart. 

Review: (Toronto) The Amorous Adventures of Anatol

Mike Shara and Nicole Underhay
(photo: Cylla von Tiedemann)

Actors at Play

by Christian Baines

For Viennese lothario, Anatol, one woman is much the same as any other, to the point he categorizes his past loves by describing encounters, rather than names. Fortunately, actor Nicole Underhay is onboard to give at least seven of those women a unique face and personality. She’s one of four performers bringing this fairly breezy, but no less entertaining update of a 19th century classic to life.

The story is familiar, and the tropes, instantly recognizable. Anatol (Mike Shara), the highly desirable young love-rat has wooed half the women of Vienna, each time finding that the woman he has in his life is never the woman he wants. Witness to his conquests and misadventures, is his old friend Max (Robert Persichini), serving as both supportive friend and inevitable head-shaker. They are well served, both in character and performance by Adam Paolozza playing servant roles of various kinds. Though mostly silent, Paolozza manages to create the distinct impression of having a far greater awareness of his master’s woes than he does. In some ways, he is the audience’s eyes and ears on stage to the obvious realities Anatol cannot see, and Max prefers to ignore.

Review: (Toronto) This is War

Lisa Berry, Ari Cohen (photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann)

The Dogs of War
by Beat Rice

I like going into shows blind, without doing any research on what kind of show it is, because it allows for more surprises. You know you’re in for a surprise as soon as you walk into the Extraspace for Hannah Moscovitch’s This is War. The set, or installation in the black box theatre, extends further than the playing area, forcing the audience to be part of the action. Set Designer Camellia Koo creates an intimate, intense space for four characters; a Captain, a Master Corporal, a Sergeant, and a Private. 

Review: (Toronto) Was Spring

Caroline Gillis, Clare Coulter, Jessica Moss (photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann)

Poetry, laughter and less

MacIvor's new play doesn't impress

by Beat Rice

It is always interesting to see how a playwright stages one’s own work. Daniel MacIvor directs his own play, Was Spring, at the Tarragon. 

The set, designed and lit by Kimberly Purtell, is a simple small open space with three chairs onstage. The most interesting visual is the tall reflective black wall that is also slightly transparent. It is an apt representation of what the women are going through. The three women attempt to come to terms with a life-changing event of their past. It’s an emotionally complex play that deals with how one views life, and how we approach death. The text is extremely poetic and there are some funny moments. 

Opinion: Michael Mitchell on The Healey Affair

Proud and Chilly
by Michael Mitchell

As many of you probably already know, not the least through previous posts right here, the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto declined to produce Michael Healey’s latest play, “Proud”, on the basis that it might possibly engender some kind of libel suit from Our Fearless Leader--whoever he or she may be. (The spectre of libel was raised by a member of Tarragon’s board; a retired lawyer who also happens to be Don McKellar’s father.)

According to reports, Healey went out to seek another legal opinion from a libel expert and was told that his play, being a satire, fell well within the realm of what constitutes reasonable public discourse.

Review: (Toronto) The Small Room At The Top of The Stairs

Nicole Underhay (photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann)

The Killing Curiosity

Tarragon presents a GG winner's spook-fest

by Beat Rice

I can’t remember the last time I felt spooked when I was watching a play. Carole Fréchette’s play, translated by John Murrell, is one that builds in mystery and tension, until it falls apart near the end. But we will get to that later.

Last night, the English premiere of The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs opened in the Mainspace at the Tarragon Theatre. The brilliant Weyni Mengesha also makes her directing debut at the Tarragon. Collaborating with designer Astrid Jansen, the set is in one corner of the room with the audience in an ‘L’ shape. The set is minimalistic, but with Bonnie Beecher’s lighting, we see hallways, a narrow staircase, and a dark room. The staging is simple yet highly effective. Mengesha uses the space in a way that allows our imaginations to put things in place. Thomas Ryder Payne’s eerie sound design creates a horror movie like feel. 

First Person: Brad Fraser on The Healey Affair

LET’S NOT NOT TALK ABOUT IT

BY BRAD FRASER

(Written for The Charlebois Post)

I can’t claim to know Michael Healey particularly well. I know of his great success as a playwright, of course, and we’ve corresponded a few times on facebook in a “shared pithy observations about something in common” sort of way. He seems professional and even-tempered, so when he gives an interview stating that Tarragon Artistic Director Richard Rose (with whom Healey has shared a professional relationship for over a decade and a number of play productions) has decided not to program his latest political satire because someone on the theatre’s board of directors felt some of the material could possibly be libelous to our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, I find no reason to doubt Mr Healey’s veracity. Nor was there anything in Healey’s public statements that seemed vindictive or petty. Add to this the fact that Richard Rose has refused to confirm, deny or elaborate on these comments in any way and it’s pretty hard not to conclude that something happened that was unpleasant enough for the playwright to need to take the kind of stand playwrights generally don’t take because it can screw up their livelihood. 

As I see it there are most likely two possible explanations here.

Revew: (Toronto) The Golden Dragon

Foreground: Tony Nappo, David Fox; Background: David Yee

(photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann)

Sit back and enjoy your meal. 

“Number 6: Thai soup with chicken, coconut milk, Thai ginger, tomatoes, button mushrooms, lemon grass and lemon leaves (hot).” 

by Dave Ross

Exotic dishes from Asia pepper Tarragon Theatre’s production of Roland Schimmelpfennig’s The Golden Dragon, in its Canadian premiere under the direction of Ross Manson, Artistic Director of Toronto’s Volcano Theatre. The Golden Dragon tells the stories of a number of characters, all of whom live seemingly-disparate lives: a young man from China with no landing papers, two flight attendants, two young lovers, and a neighbouring shopkeep, to name just a few. The common thread that binds these characters together is the “Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai restaurant” and its enticing menu.