Review: (Toronto) Hey '90s Kids, You're Old (Fringe)

Gotta Catch ‘Em All!
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

If you were a kid in the 90s - and by that I mean Babysitters Club Books, the Backstreet Boys, and the wellbeing of your Tamagotchi were a part of your very existence- you MUST go see Hey ‘90s Kids, You’re Old! 

Like, now. 

Review: (Toronto) Andy Warhol Presents Valerie

Poke and Prod with Purpose
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

This is a show with something to say. They want you to think. The extremist, radical feminist views expressed aim higher than simply bashing the male gender. Though I will admit, it was great fun watching the guys in the audience squirm a little. 

Review: (Toronto) Chasing Margaret Flatwood (Fringe)

Bursting With Talent, Nowhere to Go
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

Socialite Vivienne Moore has a desperate problem: her arch-nemesis Helen Reisberg hosted the literary soiree of the season and had the audacity not to invite Madame Moore! Can you believe it? The nerve of that woman! Oh, and her husband Gerald has been accused of stealing employee pension money in addition to shredding important company documents. But! Back to more important matters: how to get revenge on that ruinous Reisberg! Vivienne resolves to throw a party of her own and invite her literary idol, Margaret Flatwood.

Review: (Toronto) An Evening in July (Fringe)

Half Improv, Half Scripted, Totally Amazing
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

Go and see this show. Stat. 

Comedic duo The Templeton Philharmonic, comprised of Briana Templeton and Gwynne Phillips, are the complete package. Brilliant writers, commanding actors, seasoned comedians, and downright damn funny dancers, these ladies are a tour-de-force of talent. 

Review: (Toronto) The Emergency Monologues (Fringe)

A Dude, a Wheel, and an Array of Stories
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

Morgan Jones Phillips’ one-man show The Emergency Monologues is a collection of stories from his 10 years as a paramedic in downtown Toronto. What’s cool about this show is that there is a “Wheel of Misfortune” set up on stage. Each slice of the wheel’s pie has a different title on it and based on where the ticker lands, that’s the story Phillips tells. Thus, no two shows are the same and you never know what you’re going to get. 

Review: (Toronto) Don't Tell My Dad (Fringe)

A Raunchy Folkster
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

Chelsea Manders is perky, quirky, and has a biting wit that is so delightfully unexpected. Because when she started the show under a dramatic spotlight and professed, “When I was two, I almost drowned.” I admit, I was nervous. But then she breaks into some killer folk tunes and charms you along for the ride. Songs like “Existential Babies”, “Shower Head”, and “Common Wealth Bordello” send you into uncontrollable laughter. Her lyrics are sharp, smart, and delivered with a delectable doe-eyed smile. She’s definitely a charmer. 

Review: (Toronto) Group Therapy (Fringe)

A Show with Potential
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

As a first show for theatre company Giggling Aristophanes, Group Therapy is pretty ambitious. The story follows a group of strangers, all struggling with different afflictions, who determine traditional therapy isn’t working for them. As an experiment, they decide to form a support group of their own. The group then takes turns dragging each other to their location of choice and hosting their own reveal. Oh, and it’s a musical too. 

Review: (Toronto) The Assassination of Rob Ford: Dirty Little Coward

Comedy, Drama, and Stellar Saloon Tunes
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

Here are three reasons why you should see The Assassination of Robert Ford: Dirty Little Coward:

• Seamless Mayor Rob Ford jokes
• Killer saloon tunes
• Formidable facial hair

…Just kidding, there’s more.

Review: (Toronto) Inside Albert's Head (Fringe)

Content with Too Little
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

Inside Albert’s Head is all about Albert Herz, a simple electrician who bumbles around New York City accidentally solving crime. Tonight, he’s accepting a Crime Stoppers Award for his assistance. He’s even giving a speech. And guess what? You get to sit there and listen to it. 

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) A Spirit's Face

(photo by Neil Silcox)

Exposing All, Right Down to Cell Level
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles

Grief, pain, loss, all feelings we’d rather suffocate below the surface than deal with on a regular basis. And yet, these are the elements of Hunter and Jake’s broken world in Jeff D’Hondt’s A Spirit’s Face.  

The play follows the relationship between Hunter Stowe, an Aboriginal palliative care worker, and Jake Montour, an Aboriginal addictions counsellor. Hunter (Madison Walsh) idolizes her deceased father and would rather survive among the dying than deal with the living. Meanwhile Jake, (Cole Alvis), has yet to make an impact on any of his clients and lives with a debilitating panic disorder. Throughout the play Hunter and Jake pass the truth ball back and forth, taking turns revealing bits and pieces of their darkened past. Sounds cheery right? Despite the description, D’Hondt has infused the play with laugh-out-loud lines, particularly with Hunter. Humour is her coping mechanism and she delivers it with fantastic flare. 

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) Watching Glory Die

(photo by Wendy D.)

A story of isolation, desperation, and confinement where no one is left untouched. 
by Keely Kwok

Judith Thompson’s Watching Glory Die is a wake up call shouting to its viewers: do you see? Do you even know? 

The play was inspired by events surrounding the death of Ashley Smith, a 19-year-old girl who asphyxiated herself while her prison guards stood, waited, and watched. Thompson plays a young girl named Glory (based on Ashley), her adoptive mother Rosellen, and a correctional officer named Gail. As the sole actress in the show, Thompson swiftly flits in and out of these three women and delivers three distinctly different powerful performances. 

Glory is the most alienating to watch. She has been an inmate for five years, ever since a minor offence of throwing crab apples at the mailman saw her sent to a correctional facility at 14 years old. Video of Glory protesting, pleading, just pulsing, is projected onto the walls of her sterile white isolation cell. Thompson moves about the space, folding herself into the corner, rolling around on the ground, and flipping off the camera like a caged animal. The worst is when she mimes being seized by the straightjacket and helmet they make her wear so she can’t even move her head. Thompson layers Glory with an exasperating sense of desperation and loss of innocence alongside and in between a fierce, youthful rebelliousness. Glory is more than just an inmate. She is a person. 

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) The Gigli Concert

Diego Matamoros, Stuart Hughes (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

A Songful Premise 
by Keely Kwok

I arrived 15 minutes early to last night’s performance of Soulpepper’s The Gigli Concert and took a few of those minutes to admire the artistry of Ken MacKenzie’s set. With dirty windows, rustic walls, an unmade sofa bed, and absolute chaotic clutter everywhere, MacKenzie shows you exactly who lives here. The lights dim, music plays, and as the lights come back up, out stumbles JPW King (Diego Matamoros) in a morning-after stupor. King wrestles to pull a sweater over yesterday’s shirt and scrounges in an almost empty jam jar for some substance before washing it down with a swig of liquor. MacKenzie hit the nail on the head. 

On the acting front, The Gigli Concert has a very talented cast consisting of Diego Matamoros as JPW King, Stuart Hughes as the Irish Man and Irene Poole as Mona. Admittedly, it took until the second act for me to realize just how talented this trio is, but I think that has more to do with the writing and my lack of interest in the story than anything else. The Gigli Concert is about a troubled Irish Man who seeks assistance from self-proclaimed dynamatologist, King (a doctor of an invented science), because the Irish Man desperately desires to sing like the famous Italian opera singer, Beniamino Gigli. Sorry, but not my cup of tea. 

Review: (Toronto) New Ideas Festival (Week 3)

 Simprov (photo by Caolyn Zapf, Alumnae Theatre)

A Gamble and A Win
by Keely Kwok

Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival has definitely earned its name. With four short plays in the span of two hours, it’s always a gamble in terms of what you’re going to see. Thankfully, this festival is a win for its creativity and ingenuity. 

The first show Airport Tale, written by Carol Libman is a cute scenario of two strangers meeting at an airport and how they influence one another. With great characters like the sassy Evalina Applegee played by Jane Carnwath and the bumbling Roger Robinson played by Andy Perun, Airport Tale is a fun way to kick off the night.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) Carousel

(photo by John Lauener)

Round and Round She Goes
A poetic personal history
by Keely Kwok

Whether we like it or not, oftentimes our decisions are based upon those of our ancestors. Either in congruence or defiance, our actions reflect those of our parents and grandparents. Or so the unnamed Woman in Jennifer Tremblay’s The Carousel believes. As she sits vigil at the bedside of her dying mother, the Woman’s mind wanders and she relives her family’s past to make sense of the choices she, her mother, and her grandmother have made. 

The Carousel is not your average one-woman show. Tremblay has not written one long monologue, rather a series of short dialogues performed by one woman. Her language is incredibly poetic and visual. Her words physicalize, with precision, emotions of love, lust, grief, and regret. And it is the expressive and transformative actress Allegra Fulton and dynamic director Megan Follows who bring these emotions to life. 

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) The Wanderers

Omar Alex Khan, Kawa Ada (photo by Dahlia Katz)

The Wanderers: A Lesson in Emotional History
by Keely Kwok
@kwokles 

The Wanderers follows an Afghan family’s journey through the years as they flee from war, grapple with a new life in Canada - as well as their relationships with one another - and are haunted by a mysterious and inexplicable presence that brings to the foreground all the sorrow and devastation they thought they had left behind. 

The family’s story consists of five parts: three interactions sandwiched between two monologues that span over nearly 40 years. Now, I will be the first to admit that I am not a huge fan of monologues. I do however have a newfound admiration for the brilliant actresses who delivered them. Like the beautifully bold Dalal Badr who plays young Miriam on the eve of her 14th birthday as she desperately tries to save herself from The Wanderers. Badr is mesmerizing on stage. As Miriam, she has this twinkle in her eye like she knows something you don’t. And she’ll give you a hint but you have to figure the rest out for yourself. In Part Two, Badr also plays another 14-year-old girl named Alice who has CIPA, a condition where you cannot feel pain, heat, cold, or any other nerve related sensation. Same age. Same actress. Entirely new performance. Where Miriam was bold and forthcoming, Badr plays Alice with heartbreaking despair and desolation. Likewise the character of Marie, played by Melanie Janzen, closes the show and emotionally bears all in a performance that can only be described as monstrous. And I mean that in the best way possible. Janzen is an I-am-woman-hear-me-roar actress who demands your attention with her ferocity. Oh and she’s an absolute riot with great comedic timing. 

Sunday Feature: Interview - Playwright Kawa Ada on The Wanderers

Trauma, Collaboration, and Powerhouse Women 
One of the main things is that I want audiences to come away having seen a play from the vantage point of an Afghan.
by Keely Kwok 
@kwokles

Immediately after graduating from The Boston Conservatory, Kawa Ada was cast on Broadway in Bombay Dreams.  Since then, his credits have included shows with Tarragon, Factory, Canadian Stage and three seasons at The Shaw Festival. A past recipient of the Emerging Theatre Artist Award from Canadian Actors' Equity, Kawa is currently the Resident Artist at the Cahoots Theatre Company, where he recently served as the Interim Artistic Director.  Next, Ada stars in Sky Gilbert’s newest play, Hackerlove at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and the film, Jihad Gigolo, which he also wrote.  He was born in Kabul, Afghanistan.  www.KawaAda.com

As I walked into Cahoots theatre to meet playwright and actor Kawa Ada, I stepped right into the middle of cast and crew taking a break from The Wanderers rehearsals. Kawa Ada was mid-bite and jumped up to introduce himself and shake my hand. Kawa exudes a kind of radiant kindness; it’s like a breath of fresh air. He also gave me fair warning that he can be chatty which was great for me because what Ada had to say is spoken with absolute eloquence, fascination, and humility. So, without further ado, here is my interview with the ever charming Kawa Ada. 

CHARPO: Who or what inspired you to write this play, The Wanderers?

ADA: The inspiration really came from my mother. This play is for all intents and purposes homage to her and her beautiful sense of mystery, wonder, and the kind of mythology and superstition with which she raised us. I was a child of war and we fled from the war in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion. We moved to various countries and finally ended up in Canada when I was about eight years old. My mother’s spirit and energy with which she raised myself and my siblings was so vital when we were fleeing and moving to all these different countries. It really allowed us to have this kind of understanding but also a kind of respect and reverence for the mythic and the unknown. And that really kept our imaginations alive for all of us. 

There’s a character in the play that’s based on my mother, a little girl in the play. She’s an Afghan girl and is based on how I imagined my mother would be as a young girl. The bigger themes of the play are legacy, mythology, family history, and war. And all those things kind of interrelate with my upbringing and my mother is kind of the figure who brought all those things together. 

Review: (Toronto) Free Outgoing

Anusree Roy, Ash Knight (photo by John Lauener)

A Show that Deserves to Go Viral
by Keely Kwok
@Kowkles

Normally when I review a show I take a lot of notes. I probably take too many notes and drive whoever’s sitting beside me crazy. But not last night. After the first two minutes of Free Outgoing, I closed my trusty notebook knowing full well I would not forget what I was about to witness. 

Free Outgoing is about a young 15-year-old girl named Deepa who, out of love and foolishness, becomes the focus of a nationwide scandal when a video of her and her boyfriend having sex goes viral. But the real story is about Deepa’s widowed mother and brother, Malini (Anusree Roy) and Sharan (Andrew Laurie), and what they must do to navigate the scandal in their conservative Tamil community in Chennai, India. 

Review: (Toronto) The Way Back to Thursday

Roy Kempson and Astrid Van Wieren  (photo by Michael Cooper)

Call Your Family… Today.
by Keely Kwok

@kwokles

For some reason one of the most defining moments in a person’s life has to do with the end of a romantic relationship. But that’s a been there done that topic. So when Cameron’s first song starts off about his boyfriend leaving him I thought, “oh boy, here we go again…” 

Well, we all know what assuming does… 

Way Back to Thursday is a musical about a young man named Cameron (Rob Kempson)  and his relationship with his grandmother, played by the stunning Astrid Van Wieren. Their bond begins in the form of Thursday night movies, particularly ones with love and Rock Hudson. The story follows Cameron as he gets older and finds himself consumed by school, internships, work, boyfriends, and well, life. And naturally, a distance grows between Cameron and his grandmother. 

Review: (Toronto) Little Shop of Horrors

(photo by Seanna Kennedy)

For a Good Time Call: Little Shop of Horrors 
by Keely Kwok 
@kowkles

Little Shop of Horrors is a fun, quirky musical about a bumbling, lovesick fella named Seymour Krelborn who works in a ramshackle of a flower shop on Skid Row. One day Seymour (Mark Willett)  brings a mysterious plant to the shop and calls it Audrey II (after his not-so-secret crush on the shop’s assistant). Audrey II, or Twoey, is unlike anything anyone has ever seen and suddenly business is booming! The only problem is, Audrey II has a rather peculiar diet… human flesh and blood. 

The Lower Ossington Theatre definitely delivers an entertaining, upbeat performance with a talented cast whose vocals hit you all the way in the back row. And it was a tough crowd. A lot of laugh lines didn’t receive a single chuckle but the cast rolled with it. And finally the sleazy Orin (Ryan Jeffrey), worked the room during his song Dentist! and the audience came round. I mean, who can resist that rock and roll, slightly psychotic charm?