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 / Theatre) Queer Bathroom Stories

Tyson James, Chy Ryan Spain, Hallie Burt (photo by Dahlia Katz)

Fuck the Binary 
by Spencer Malthouse

A lot of things happen in public restrooms and it is time we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of life behind the stick figures. Libido Productions Queer Bathroom Stories explores 100 experiences of gender identity and perception. The 70-minute production camply portrays these experiences with lots of humour and even more heart. 

I confess I am unfamiliar with Sheila Cavanagh’s academic work but I commend her writing for its cohesion and themes. This strength of the script is the diversity of the issues it explores. It does not paint all Queer people as victims but rather showcases the ups and downs of Queer identity. The play flows well, interspersing discussions of violence with heartwarming stories and Gay frivolity. The stories progress seamlessly and weave a profound picture.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) Bingo

(photo by Joanna Akyol)

Can You Relate?
by Spencer Malthouse
@spencemalthouse

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a reunion of old friends in possession of a fair amount of alcohol must be in search of shit (drama). Daniel MacIvor’s Bingo presented at Factory Theatre is no exception. This is a funny play. I do question its relevance to a Toronto audience but it has genuinely strong performances and some neat things to say. 

Five friends from Cape Breton go back to Cape Breton for their thirty year (horrifying) high-school reunion. Actually, three of them never left and one just leaves in Halifax. Only one actually got out and ended up in Calgary (horrifying). They get drunk, marriages break down, romances kindle, and no babies (constructed or otherwise) actually die. Although the pain caused to one of the characters from not having kids does, I think, fill the role of this trope. 

Review: (Theatre / Toronto) Cold Comfort

What is it about the Irish, Whiskey, and Child Death? 
by Spencer Malthouse
@spencemalthouse

If you’re going to kill a baby do it definitively. I thoroughly enjoy seeing an Irishman try to come to grips with his family problems over a bottle of Bushmills but when you come to the crux of the issue you must definitively say whether or not the baby died. Anything else just seems like you’re dancing around the issue. Kill the baby. Do it however you like but do it clearly.  

That said, it’s a very neat idea to have your Irishman discussing what went wrong with his life when his interlocutor is the corpse of his Father. The premise and the writing in Owen McCafferty’s Fly on the Wall Theatre are intriguing. McCafferty works humour and subtlety into his script to progress the play and its one actor to the breaking point. This hour long play could have benefitted from some cuts (there is a lot of repetition of nonsense Irish filler and an overuse of the word 'gargle') but overall the writing takes the audience on a heart-wrenching journey.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) Trudeau and the FLQ

A Fab Trip back to the Birth of Separatism 
by Spencer Malthouse
@spencemalthouse

So Trudeau and the FLQ presented by VideoCabaret, part of the History of the Village of the Small Huts series, was profound in two distinct ways. Allow me to start with the historical before progressing to the histrionic. 

In the first, it’s hard to imagine a more pertinent topic in the wake of the PQ’s shattering defeat Monday. Writer/director Michael Hollingsworth strongly suggests that the Parti Quebecois was born of the alienation of Quebeckers during the FLQ crisis and the War Measures Act. He portrays the FLQ as a small band of radicals and hippies committed to creating a revolution for the sake of revolution. Trudeau, meanwhile, is a proud idealist determined to put Quebec in its place (inside of Canada). Separatism, Hollingsworth argues, was born of arrogant radicalism on both sides.  

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) The Seagull

Patrick Garrow, Rena Palley (Photo by Katherine Holland)

The Sound and the Fury and the Acting
Madness and Method are Apparent in The Chekhov Collective’s The Seagull
by Spencer Malthouse
@spencemalthouse 

A man taking a restful sojourn in the country finds a happy, carefree seagull. Having nothing better to do he destroys it. 

Now imagine that you are the seagull. Imagine that you fall in love with this man and that he slowly destroys you crushing first your dreams, then your reputation, and then your heart. You are left cold, broken, and dying. 

Now imagine you are a man who loved that seagull so completely that your despair at her suffering stifles your soul.  

But it’s a comedy!

Review: (Toronto) Parfumerie

Patricia Fagan and Oliver Dennis (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Christmas Comedy of the Best Kind
by Spencer Malthouse

OK, Cupid, what if you fell in love with someone you’d never met or seen but with whom you corresponded regularly? Now what if it turns out that not only do you know that person but that you actually despise her? A lot of dramatic irony and some great opportunities for slapstick would certainly occur and there would definitely be the potential for a Hollywood spin-off. Soulpepper’s adaptation of Miklos Laszlo’s Parfumerie imbues the situational comedy with quick and adorable theatricality. 

Set in a high-end shop in Budapest in 1937, six store workers and their boss prepare for Christmas. The central romance of the piece is a love story between two of the co-workers who adore one another as anonymous correspondents but loathe each other in person. Meanwhile, there is deceit and concern amongst the staff s as it becomes apparent that one of the employees has been shtooping the boss’s wife. The play flies along with superb pacing although a few pauses in the second act were longer than necessary. The first act contained a little too much exposition and could have been cut slightly. That said, the plot flows simply and is filled with comic moments and the play is a joy to watch. 

Review: (Toronto) Journey's End

Some Men Die Before they Go Over the Top

by Spencer Malthouse

In the midst of the calamity of noise and mud are men. R. C. Sherriff’s Journey’s End is a story of how they coped with the fear and the blood and their attempts to keep a stiff upper lip when all they knew turned to blackness. Empty Room’s production is forthright, honest, and gut wrenching. We are carried right along with the emotion of going over the top and the bleak burning pointlessness of it all. 

Second Lieutenant Raleigh joins C Company in spring of 1918, immediately before the largest German offensive of the war. He has come to follow Captain Stanhope, one of his school heroes. He meets a Blackadder-like troupe of officers, led by the once proud but now broken and alcoholic Captain Stanhope. The 2 hours, 45 minutes of the play take place over the three days before the German offensive. 

Review: (Toronto) The (All Female) Taming of the Shrew

photo by Burdett Photography

All Hips and No Bite
by Spencer Malthouse

Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the actor cannot hear the director; things fall apart, the centre cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the stage. The (All Female) Taming of the Shrew is a lengthy and unoriginal presentation of this famous problem play. Jaybird Productions should have left it and director Jacqui Burke locked in their cell.

In homage, perhaps, to the Bard, the set is spartan – three risers, stacked, with a few signposts and furniture pieces for context. Setting this play “in the round” was ineffective as one row of the audience was clearly sitting behind the action and between the wings. A simple thrust would have worked far better and saved some audience members being trampled. The lighting is simple but effective in the space and the costumes vary widely in quality. 

Review: (Toronto) Twelfth Night

Whence Ev’rybody Knows Thy Name
by Spencer Malthouse

It’s just a little pub frequented by nobles and fools alike, where bawdy hijinks and serendipitous romance intermingle. Hart House Theatre’s latest interpretation of Twelfth Night evokes the humour and camaraderie of the archetypal local pub.

This production succeeds in blending slapstick with some sweet romance. Viola (Darcy Gerhart) finds herself in Illyria. She disguises herself as a boy in order to work for Duke Orsino (Liam Volke) with whom she falls in love. Duke Orsino ardently loves Olivia (Arlin Dixon). Olivia rejects him but falls in love with Cesario (who is Viola as a boy). Confusion, hilarity, and homoeroticism ensue.

Review: (Toronto) Sucker

Jessica Moss, Andy Trithardt (photo by Zaiden)

Modern (Adams) Family 
by Spencer Malthouse 

When their parents are killed in a whimsical tragedy, Jamie (not-Jewish) decides to be a Rabbi and Beth realizes that she is a vampire. Theatre Brouhaha’s Sucker is an uproariously heart-warming story of a brother and sister struggling with the death of their parents. It is a tragicomic story of the bizarre ways people deal with grief.

Review: (Toronto) The List

A Tragic Exploration of Motherhood and Survival  

by Spencer Malthouse

This play is not about being a good mother. This play is about the toll motherhood exacts on a woman. With children, “love is so easy,” but life is so hard. No Exit’s production of The List by Jennifer Tremblay is a seamlessly cinematic portrayal of a woman suffocating. This one-woman play explores motherhood through profound tragedy. 

The woman (Torri Higginson) claims responsibility for the death of her friend, Caroline – her one ally in this stifling village of nosy bitches. I admit that in the beginning I understood the woman’s motives as malicious. We learn that she hates living in the country, that she finds life with her three young sons stifling, that she can only cope by obsessively making lists of chores, and that she can’t always muster up the strength to tolerate Caroline’s insidiously saccharine knocks at her door.

Review: (Victoria) Tosca

Joni Henson and Luc Robert  (photo Emily Cooper)

Tosca the Pantomime
This Accessible Opera is Melodramatic and Simplistic
by Spencer Malthouse

The villain drives Pacific Opera Victoria’s latest production of Tosca. Baron Scarpia (David John Pike) commands the stage, the plot, and the fate of the lovers. As the other actors fall flat, Pike steals the show. 

The artist Cavaradossi (Luc Robert) sings well enough about his love for Floria Tosca (Joni Henson) but the two have no chemistry.  Henson has a gorgeous voice but her acting is over-the-top and melodramatic. Even if we believe that Tosca inadvertently caused the drama of the play, I’m not sure that the audience should quite so eagerly anticipate her death. 

Review: (Victoria) The 39 Steps

from left to right: Toshik Bukowiecki, Nick Sepi, Alan Penty (photo credit:  David Lowes)

The 39 Steps: A Hilarious 1930's Radio Play Brought to Life
You'll Laugh, You'll Cry, You'll Go Home Happy 
by Spencer Malthouse
@S_Malthouse

The historic Langham Court Theatre presents Patrick Barlow's uproarious farce, The 39 Steps. This film-noir style piece is a slapstick romp through 1930s England and Scotland. 

The play traces the adventure of Richard Hannay (Alan Penty), who finds himself inexplicably involved in a dastardly German plot. Penty's Hannay is camp, cheeky, and lovable. His over-the-top acting is marvellously suited to the script and his energy propels the play. Opposite Hannay are three very different women, each of whom is played stunningly by Karen Brelsford. Capturing the spirit and farce of the play, Brelsford is a pleasure to watch.

Review: (Victoria) Let's Make an Opera and The Little Sweep

(photo by David Bukash)

Let's Make the Audience Sing
Cute, but not what you might call “high art.”
by Spencer Malthouse
@S_Malthouse

In a first-time pairing, Pacific Opera Victoria and The Belfry theatre have united to present a sweet little production of Let's Make an Opera and The Little Sweep. The show might be called a meta-theatrical study of the creative process. More appropriately, however, it is a lighthearted introduction to opera for children and families.  

This play/operetta is a nursery tale on stage acted by children and opera singers. It is entertaining in that the actors are lively, the children adorable, and the singing pleasant. The plot could be followed by a six-year-old. In the first scene, the players set about creating the opera. This exposition is insightful but also very simple. The operetta itself is a children's cartoon set in 1810 – imagine Sound of Music but without the Nazis, love story, or strife. 

Review: (Victoria) Albert Herring

Lawrence Wiliford (photo credit: David Cooper)

A Great Green Union Flag Covered in Pink Carnations
A Deserving Tribute to the Genius of Benjamin Britten and the Sheer Nonsense of Propriety 
by Spencer Malthouse

Pacific Opera Victoria celebrates Benjamin Britten's 100th birthday by presenting his delightful comic opera, Albert Herring. Lauded as the greatest comic opera of the 19th century, the piece is as much a gay satire of English propriety as it is a loving parody of opera. 

Director Glynis Leyshon succeeds in Britten's original intent of producing a post-war comedy complete with chocolate-faced children and a flirtatious vicar. While the work comes across a little treacle sweet, fundamentally this production is about breaking free of societal constraints. The essential comedy of the piece derives from satirizing “the hypocrisies of village life” and triumphing over small-town vacuity.