News: Toronto Masque Theatre announced tenth anniversary season (Press release)

Toronto Masque Theatre’s 2013-2014 Anniversary Season
Ten Years of Tradition and Innovation

Toronto Masque Theatre is thrilled to announce its tenth season of interdisciplinary performance. This anniversary season will feature presentations that represent the full range of our work and the potential of masque; performance that fuses drama, music and dance; presentations that fuse tradition with innovation.

This year, we re-imagine Patrick Garland's now classic play Brief Lives, underscoring the story of John Aubrey with song and music from 17th century London. We then reinvent one of our most popular shows from the past, the uproarious Tears of a Clown, under a new title, Arlecchino Allegro. Finally, we round out the season with one of our patented mainstage presentations of a classic from the world canon teamed up with a contemporary interpretation as we examine the Myth of Europa in depth.

To mark our 10th anniversary season, Toronto Masque Theatre will also be hosting two informal salons. The first, in September, will be a retrospective on the history of the company; the second, to be held in March, will explore the history of the masque form.

In keeping with our commitment to public engagement and deepening the appreciation of masque, Artistic Director Larry Beckwith, joined by special guests, will host a pre-show chat 45 minutes before the majority of our mainstage shows.

More information on both our mainstage and salon series follows below. For more information on Toronto Masque Theatre, please go to our website.

Brief Lives: Stories and songs of old London October 25-27, 2013; Young Centre for the Performing Arts

"Suddenly, in our hands, to touch and feel, is the fabric of an age."
The New York Times on the original production

In our first co-production with Soulpepper Theatre Company, as part of their Global Cabaret Festival, we revisit Patrick Garland’s acclaimed show based on John Aubrey’s beloved (and wonderfully gossipy) Brief Lives. With popular music and ballads from Aubrey’s 17th-century London.

Featuring: Larry Beckwith, Katherine Hill, Terry McKenna and William Webster. Directed by Derek Boyes.

Arlecchino Allegro: The patron calls the tune 
January 23-25, 2014; Enoch Turner Schoolhouse 

"A madcap evening of authentic Early Music with later compositions fractured like funhouse mirror images... the music was extraordinary." 
John Terauds, Toronto Star, on the original production

With this year’s cabaret, we re-imagine one of our greatest hits, Tears of a Clown. In an uproariously comic depiction of a glittering event gone awry, improvisational comedy rubs shoulders with Renaissance music and witty interpretations of the music of Mahler, Mozart, Debussy, Leoncavallo, Schubert and, of course, Smokey Robinson.

Featuring  Larry Beckwith, Felix Deak, Diana Kolpak, Avery MacLean, Terry McKenna, Laura Pudwell and David-Benjamin Tomlinson.

The Myth of Europa: Desire, transformation and possession
April 25-26, 2014; Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre 

“…a single gorgeous strand of spun silver, handled with unbelievable finesse and imagination….”
Minnesota Public Radio on Suzie LeBlanc

The god Zeus, lost in passion, takes the form of a white bull to seduce the mortal Europa. Toronto Masque Theatre looks at this legend through three different lenses: the exquisite secular cantata L’Europe by Michel Pignolet de Montéclair (1667-1737), a poetic and dynamic theatrical rendering, and a new Toronto Masque Theatre commission from the brilliant composer James Rolfe and librettist Steven Heighton.

Featuring Martin Julien, Suzie LeBlanc and Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière.

Toronto Masque Theatre's Salon Series
September 30, 2013 and March 3, 2014; The Shaftesbury Studio, 21 Shaftesbury Avenue 

Join us for two informal salons that will explore the history of Toronto Masque Theatre and the masque as a traditional and still-evolving art-form. Hosted and sponsored by TMT patrons Walter and Marina Unger, both evenings will feature dramatic and musical entertainment alongside conversation, food and drink. Hosted by Larry Beckwith.