Last Saturday, on a snowy winter night, I walked over the bridge to a cool, new(ish) performance space in town, Fraser Studios, to catch a double bill of two one-act plays by Marguerite Duras, performed by the Spiel Players.
Spiel Players are an independent theatre collective, with a particular interest in translations and adaptations of plays from around the world. I was excited to have a chance to see Duras' work, performed because it doesn't happen often.
Duras was a French novelist and filmmaker, who also occasionally wrote for the stage. Her screenplays include the iconic HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR. Her work has a enigmatic quality that's entrancing and crazy-making in turns. Here, it works pretty well.
In the first piece, SAVANNAH BAY, Deborah Grover gives a star turn, as a former actress, living in care, who may, or may not have dementia. She is visited by a young woman (a very sweet Lisa Hamalainen), an old tune and an old story from her life. Does she remember? Does she want to? It's a very affecting piece, that asks as many questions as it answers.
In the second half, we get the completely different, LE SHAGA , a delightful bit of absurdist fun concerning the travails of comprehension and communication. Hamalainen and cohorts, Peyton Le Barr and Paulo Santalucia are all hilarious as three people trying to understand each other, when they don't speak the same language.
Both pieces are adroitly directed, on a nearly bare stage by Joanne Williams, who has just left Canadian Stage to function as an interim General Manager at the Toronto Fringe. I hope this will only serve as a pause in her directing career, as she always tackles intelligent scripts with understated assurance.
The theatre is small, but comfortable. My only issue, which I have in many of the indy spaces around town, is sound bleed from the neighbours. The performers deserve better.
There's a lot of shows on in town right now, but if you like literate scripts performed with delicacy and care, this double bill is worth a visit.
Spiel Players present Two Plays by Marguerite Duras at Fraser Studios, 76 Stafford Street, Unit 101 at 8:00 pm , Thus, Fri and Sat and 2:00 pm Sun until March 1st. Tickets and information at www.fraserstudios.net.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Saturday, February 7, 2015
REVIEW: Down with Dickens: TWISTED at the Factory Theatre
Last night, I saw TWISTED, Charlotte-Corbeil Coleman and Joseph Jomo Pierre's adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel, OLIVER TWIST. The production is a collaboration between b current and the Factory Theatre, as part of the Factory's on-going series of co-productions.
This is an up-to-the minute version, set in a grey, grim, and grimy Toronto, awash in an urbane, hip-hop and rap based score by Hagler.
The narrative is primarily driven by a series of over 100 text messages, between a pair of star-crossed, street-involved lovers, Ollie (Ngabo Nabea) and Nancy (Susanna Fournier). Their texts are projected large, on the back wall of the set, for most of the show. This electronically-delivered epistolary comprises the seminal component of Ollie and Nancy's relationship. Texting drives the action of the plot, which is both a good thing, and a bad thing.
It's a good thing, because it feels real, fresh and immediate.
Ollie is a black, seventeen year-old, CAS run-away, who works as a runner for Dodger, a drug-dealer. Nancy, his crush, is a twenty-three year old drug addict, and "bottom girl" for Sikes, a vicious pimp. Nancy, a.k.a. "Lady Porcelain" earns her keep, and supports her habit, by turning on-line tricks, as well as recruiting, and grooming underage female run-aways, and street-kids to work for Sikes in his on-line sex trade business.
Is Nancy just playing Ollie? Can two profoundly damaged kids with self-destructive streaks, escape the maze of street life, and find happiness?
Many aspects of TWISTED work really well. The gritty script, both projected and spoken, has power and lyricism. The play itself is well-constructed. Hagler's music and Simeon Taole's projections add verisimilitude to the performance environment, without overwhelming the story. Director, Nigel Shawn Williams effectively melds the complex productions elements, with understated finesse, into a coherent whole. The 90 minute production is well-paced.
The clever set by Denyse Karn also, largely, enhances the proceedings. The flattened, grey maze, with a retractable platform, functions as projection surface, visual metaphor, and a series of discrete playing spaces for the two performers.
I understood that the precarious position the characters occupy in their lives is mirrored in some of the precarious positions they occupy, at times, on the set. However, some of their movements, from level to level, felt awkward. I thought slightly wider plinths could have remedied this. I also found myself wondering if a show this music-driven, wouldn't have benefited from a choreographer.
Both performances are emotionally engaging and affecting.
Susanna Fournier as Nancy, gives us a well-fleshed out, multidimensional Nancy, showing the character's vulnerability, longing, self-destructiveness, damage and defensiveness, in equal measure.
Newcomer, Ngabo Nabea makes his professional debut in this show. He brings an aura of bewildered charm, and exuberant, youthful heart to his massive role. Like Dickens' Oliver, he's an unabashedly good kid, in a swarm of mostly bad people.
Now, here's why the decision to have the two character write to each other, more than they interact, is a bad thing.
Fournier and Nabea have almost no scenes together, although they are both onstage, for most of the show. As a consequence, we don't get to bond with the two as a couple, in the way we need to, for the powerful ending of the play (and no, I'm not going to tell you what happens at the end) to have the impact it should.
The all text/no touch relationship between Fournier and Nabea creates another problem. Both actors are left in the challenging position of having to engage and hold the audience by delivering 80 uninterrupted minutes of direct address.
The level of vocal technique required to deliver this many lines, and convey all of their inherent beauty, fire, and potency is exquisitely difficult to master. At present, neither actor has enough vocal fluidity or muscularity for the task. Fournier, who is a much more seasoned performer, fares better than Nabea, but she also flounders at times, with both rhythm and cadence.
It is early in the run of this complex show. Hopefully, the performers' suppleness in delivery will increase, as the run progresses.
The good elements of this show decidedly outweigh its issues. There were many young people in the theatre last night, enthusiastically getting down with Dickens, in this lively version of an old, but still potent tale, of two lost kids, at loose on the mean streets.
TWISTED is well worth seeing, for its resonant and committed telling of a powerful story, and for the inventive, stylized production.
TWISTED by b current down with The Factory Theatre, continues at the Factory Theatre Mainstage, 125 Bathurst Street, until February 22, 2015. Tues. - Sat 8: 00 pm, with Pay What You Can matinees Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm. www.factorytheatre.ca for (416) 504 9971 or tickets and information.
This is an up-to-the minute version, set in a grey, grim, and grimy Toronto, awash in an urbane, hip-hop and rap based score by Hagler.
The narrative is primarily driven by a series of over 100 text messages, between a pair of star-crossed, street-involved lovers, Ollie (Ngabo Nabea) and Nancy (Susanna Fournier). Their texts are projected large, on the back wall of the set, for most of the show. This electronically-delivered epistolary comprises the seminal component of Ollie and Nancy's relationship. Texting drives the action of the plot, which is both a good thing, and a bad thing.
It's a good thing, because it feels real, fresh and immediate.
Ollie is a black, seventeen year-old, CAS run-away, who works as a runner for Dodger, a drug-dealer. Nancy, his crush, is a twenty-three year old drug addict, and "bottom girl" for Sikes, a vicious pimp. Nancy, a.k.a. "Lady Porcelain" earns her keep, and supports her habit, by turning on-line tricks, as well as recruiting, and grooming underage female run-aways, and street-kids to work for Sikes in his on-line sex trade business.
Is Nancy just playing Ollie? Can two profoundly damaged kids with self-destructive streaks, escape the maze of street life, and find happiness?
Many aspects of TWISTED work really well. The gritty script, both projected and spoken, has power and lyricism. The play itself is well-constructed. Hagler's music and Simeon Taole's projections add verisimilitude to the performance environment, without overwhelming the story. Director, Nigel Shawn Williams effectively melds the complex productions elements, with understated finesse, into a coherent whole. The 90 minute production is well-paced.
The clever set by Denyse Karn also, largely, enhances the proceedings. The flattened, grey maze, with a retractable platform, functions as projection surface, visual metaphor, and a series of discrete playing spaces for the two performers.
I understood that the precarious position the characters occupy in their lives is mirrored in some of the precarious positions they occupy, at times, on the set. However, some of their movements, from level to level, felt awkward. I thought slightly wider plinths could have remedied this. I also found myself wondering if a show this music-driven, wouldn't have benefited from a choreographer.
Both performances are emotionally engaging and affecting.
Susanna Fournier as Nancy, gives us a well-fleshed out, multidimensional Nancy, showing the character's vulnerability, longing, self-destructiveness, damage and defensiveness, in equal measure.
Newcomer, Ngabo Nabea makes his professional debut in this show. He brings an aura of bewildered charm, and exuberant, youthful heart to his massive role. Like Dickens' Oliver, he's an unabashedly good kid, in a swarm of mostly bad people.
Now, here's why the decision to have the two character write to each other, more than they interact, is a bad thing.
Fournier and Nabea have almost no scenes together, although they are both onstage, for most of the show. As a consequence, we don't get to bond with the two as a couple, in the way we need to, for the powerful ending of the play (and no, I'm not going to tell you what happens at the end) to have the impact it should.
The all text/no touch relationship between Fournier and Nabea creates another problem. Both actors are left in the challenging position of having to engage and hold the audience by delivering 80 uninterrupted minutes of direct address.
The level of vocal technique required to deliver this many lines, and convey all of their inherent beauty, fire, and potency is exquisitely difficult to master. At present, neither actor has enough vocal fluidity or muscularity for the task. Fournier, who is a much more seasoned performer, fares better than Nabea, but she also flounders at times, with both rhythm and cadence.
It is early in the run of this complex show. Hopefully, the performers' suppleness in delivery will increase, as the run progresses.
The good elements of this show decidedly outweigh its issues. There were many young people in the theatre last night, enthusiastically getting down with Dickens, in this lively version of an old, but still potent tale, of two lost kids, at loose on the mean streets.
TWISTED is well worth seeing, for its resonant and committed telling of a powerful story, and for the inventive, stylized production.
TWISTED by b current down with The Factory Theatre, continues at the Factory Theatre Mainstage, 125 Bathurst Street, until February 22, 2015. Tues. - Sat 8: 00 pm, with Pay What You Can matinees Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm. www.factorytheatre.ca for (416) 504 9971 or tickets and information.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
PERFORMING NARCISSISM: 1976 & RECENT FUTURE at DANCEMAKERS
Last weekend, I saw some very challenging new dance that left me with a lot of questions and no easy answers.
Last Friday night, I went to see DANCEMAKERS most recent offering, an evening of contemporary dance/performance art consisting of two pieces: IN TOUCH - 1976 & RECENT FUTURE.
DANCEMAKERS is working on a creation model where two curators offer space, time, and supports to a group of resident artists, who evolve work over a two year period.
The work is processed based, seeking to address the questions: What is dance? Why are we dancing?
The first piece, by Dana Michel, was a solo, 1976.
A headless creature emerges, yellow legged, swaddled in fur, with spectator shoes. Foot and leg movement deconstruct street tap and from the fur embryo, in a black, blow up chair a creature emerges. This performer morphs a few times: the squirming shape-shifts suggesting an uneasy alliance with her own body and the decision to be watched. It is not a comfortable performance, but it is compelling.
In RECENT FUTURE , Zoja Smutney and her collaborator Gunter Kravis perform on a stage divided by long swaths of transparent plastic. The two performers, striped shirts on the top (is this prison?) textured, reptile skin, black mesh hose decorating the legs, are present on stage, as are we, to watch and interact with the performers, and the space. The performance is an elaborate game of 'Simon says" between a man and a woman in an ambiguous relationship, rife with issues of power, and presentation. At one point, he asks her to "perform narcissism".
Both pieces explore the sometimes uncomfortable, and oft-times unholy alliance between the audience and the performer. Do we, the spectators, function as a kind of mirror to the performer? Or, when I want to look away, is it because the performance has held up a mirror to my own zones of discomfort? When a show makes me uncomfortable, is it because of the work, or because of me, because the work is making me think about things I'd rather avoid thinking about? Or, when a show makes me uncomfortable, is it the performers' projecting what they can't, or don't want, or haven't gotten around to processing before displaying, onto the audience; "Hey, I'm not sure how I feel about being exposed physically and psychically out here, or if this is exposure is germane to the work, or even what it means in this context, you figure it out."
This was DANCEMAKERS' first iteration of the process based focus of the resident artists' production model. The work I saw emerge last week was thought-provoking and challenging, if somewhat slippery and yet unformed.
DANCEMAKERS continues this weekend with a larger cast reconstruction of 1976. If you'd like some cool, challenging food for thought about what it means to watch and be watched, while you feed your performance-viewing habit, check this out.
DANCEMAKERS continues until January 31ST at 8:00 PM at Centre for Creation, 9 Trinity St., 3rd floor, in the Distillery. Tickets are $22 and $29 at the door.
Last Friday night, I went to see DANCEMAKERS most recent offering, an evening of contemporary dance/performance art consisting of two pieces: IN TOUCH - 1976 & RECENT FUTURE.
DANCEMAKERS is working on a creation model where two curators offer space, time, and supports to a group of resident artists, who evolve work over a two year period.
The work is processed based, seeking to address the questions: What is dance? Why are we dancing?
The first piece, by Dana Michel, was a solo, 1976.
A headless creature emerges, yellow legged, swaddled in fur, with spectator shoes. Foot and leg movement deconstruct street tap and from the fur embryo, in a black, blow up chair a creature emerges. This performer morphs a few times: the squirming shape-shifts suggesting an uneasy alliance with her own body and the decision to be watched. It is not a comfortable performance, but it is compelling.
In RECENT FUTURE , Zoja Smutney and her collaborator Gunter Kravis perform on a stage divided by long swaths of transparent plastic. The two performers, striped shirts on the top (is this prison?) textured, reptile skin, black mesh hose decorating the legs, are present on stage, as are we, to watch and interact with the performers, and the space. The performance is an elaborate game of 'Simon says" between a man and a woman in an ambiguous relationship, rife with issues of power, and presentation. At one point, he asks her to "perform narcissism".
Both pieces explore the sometimes uncomfortable, and oft-times unholy alliance between the audience and the performer. Do we, the spectators, function as a kind of mirror to the performer? Or, when I want to look away, is it because the performance has held up a mirror to my own zones of discomfort? When a show makes me uncomfortable, is it because of the work, or because of me, because the work is making me think about things I'd rather avoid thinking about? Or, when a show makes me uncomfortable, is it the performers' projecting what they can't, or don't want, or haven't gotten around to processing before displaying, onto the audience; "Hey, I'm not sure how I feel about being exposed physically and psychically out here, or if this is exposure is germane to the work, or even what it means in this context, you figure it out."
This was DANCEMAKERS' first iteration of the process based focus of the resident artists' production model. The work I saw emerge last week was thought-provoking and challenging, if somewhat slippery and yet unformed.
DANCEMAKERS continues this weekend with a larger cast reconstruction of 1976. If you'd like some cool, challenging food for thought about what it means to watch and be watched, while you feed your performance-viewing habit, check this out.
DANCEMAKERS continues until January 31ST at 8:00 PM at Centre for Creation, 9 Trinity St., 3rd floor, in the Distillery. Tickets are $22 and $29 at the door.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
NSTF 2015: News from the Heated Beer Tent
NEXT STAGE THEATRE FESTIVAl, the Fringe of Toronto's juried series of 10 winter offerings in the Factory Theatre, opened last Wednesday and is now at the half-way mark.
I have seen two shows so far, both on the Mainstage: FOR A GOOD TIME CALL KATHY BLANCHARD, a comedy by OUTSIDE INSIDE, and a contemporary dance show set to Motown music, PULSE by JASMYN FYFFE DANCE COLLECTIVE.
PULSE began with performers in the audience encouraging patrons to get up and join them in the aisles for the first number. The company then hopped and skipped onto the stage to continue the performance. More audience participation takes place at the end.
The dancers, Jonna Abrams, Bretonie Burchell, Irvin Chow, Julia Consentino, Jasmyn Fyffe, Roney Lewis,Alyssa Petrolo,Steven Smith, Jessica Tomasone are young, engaged and energetic. Their charm and playfulness went a long way towards wallpapering over some pretty ubiquitous choreography by Fyffe and made the forced gaiety of this type of audience participation somewhat easier to handle.
There were two stand out numbers in the 60 minute show: a duet about an abusive relationship set to an a capella version of NEITHER ONE OF US WANTS TO BE THE FIRST TO SAY GOODBYE. Gladys Knight's achingly lovely voice soared over two damaged people trapped in a cycle of escalating violence, punctuated by moments of tenderness and remorse. That duet was well worth the price of admission.
A piece performed without music by three young men in the company was also charged with energy and danger, and was performed without music. I only wish the rest of the program had tried less hard to please and been as focused, intense and dynamic as those two sections.
It's very challenging to create a dance piece of this length, that holds together thematically. PULSE is uneven, but it's worth a look.
Then I was back Monday night to see FOR A GOOD TIME CALL KATHY BLANCHARD. After Tony Nappo's star turn as coke-addled enforcer John Kordic in SUDDEN DEATH at NSTF two winters back, it would be tough to come up with an equally compelling hockey story. FOR A GOOD TIME ...isn't it.
Michael Ross Albert's script isn't really about hockey. It reminded me of those '70s kitchen sink Canadian dramedies I sat through way too many of, back in the day. It churns out plot, leaving the actors to spew exposition, while most of the action takes place off-stage and, yes, there is an actual kitchen sink, downstage left.
The parental home in which the show is set is supposed to be under re-construction after a fire, but the cluttered, too bright set is more distraction than help to the production.
Watching the game has only a tenuous connection to the many threaded plot revolving around a musician/slacker Lawrence (a delightful Daniel Pagett) and the travails of his massive, extended family. We meet his endearingly over-functioning cousin Mary who, as played by Jennifer Dzialoszynski, was my favourite thing about this show. His girlfriend Amanda, a gawkily charming Caroline Toal, making the best of a bad business and the very funny Geoffrey Pounsett as Sky, get thrown into the mix along with affairs,a marriage proposal, house-fires, play-off hockey, dying parents,competing career objectives and an old flame in cottage country.
Any one of the pairings of characters could have furnished enough material for an hour-long play, especially with actors this good. There's some funny material here, some good dialogue, and some really fine acting, but the whole thing is far from ready to make a run for the play-offs.
The seminal issue with both these pieces is they tried far too hard to be likeable. I don't go to the Fringe to see people blatantly pandering for that elusive feel-good commercial hit, though I'm glad if that happens. I go to see compelling, often idiosyncratic and challenging work.
Speaking of feel-good, I've heard lots of good buzz about two comedies, UNBRIDLED AND UNHINGED and GRAHAM SMITH READS THE PHONEBOOK. I'm going to try get a ticket for BIG SHOT, which was recommended by a writer and performer I respect, who had seen it on tour.
I have tickets to see DINK and MYTH OF THE OSTRICH this weekend. Fingers crossed for some unique, high-risk theatre this weekend. By the way, the rummy cider is terrific and the tent is nice and warm!
Next Stage Theatre Festival continues at the Factory Theatre until Sunday, January 18th. www.fringetoronto.com for tickets and schedules. Tickets are also available in person onsite in the heated tent at 125 Bathurst Street.
I have seen two shows so far, both on the Mainstage: FOR A GOOD TIME CALL KATHY BLANCHARD, a comedy by OUTSIDE INSIDE, and a contemporary dance show set to Motown music, PULSE by JASMYN FYFFE DANCE COLLECTIVE.
PULSE began with performers in the audience encouraging patrons to get up and join them in the aisles for the first number. The company then hopped and skipped onto the stage to continue the performance. More audience participation takes place at the end.
The dancers, Jonna Abrams, Bretonie Burchell, Irvin Chow, Julia Consentino, Jasmyn Fyffe, Roney Lewis,Alyssa Petrolo,Steven Smith, Jessica Tomasone are young, engaged and energetic. Their charm and playfulness went a long way towards wallpapering over some pretty ubiquitous choreography by Fyffe and made the forced gaiety of this type of audience participation somewhat easier to handle.
There were two stand out numbers in the 60 minute show: a duet about an abusive relationship set to an a capella version of NEITHER ONE OF US WANTS TO BE THE FIRST TO SAY GOODBYE. Gladys Knight's achingly lovely voice soared over two damaged people trapped in a cycle of escalating violence, punctuated by moments of tenderness and remorse. That duet was well worth the price of admission.
A piece performed without music by three young men in the company was also charged with energy and danger, and was performed without music. I only wish the rest of the program had tried less hard to please and been as focused, intense and dynamic as those two sections.
It's very challenging to create a dance piece of this length, that holds together thematically. PULSE is uneven, but it's worth a look.
Then I was back Monday night to see FOR A GOOD TIME CALL KATHY BLANCHARD. After Tony Nappo's star turn as coke-addled enforcer John Kordic in SUDDEN DEATH at NSTF two winters back, it would be tough to come up with an equally compelling hockey story. FOR A GOOD TIME ...isn't it.
Michael Ross Albert's script isn't really about hockey. It reminded me of those '70s kitchen sink Canadian dramedies I sat through way too many of, back in the day. It churns out plot, leaving the actors to spew exposition, while most of the action takes place off-stage and, yes, there is an actual kitchen sink, downstage left.
The parental home in which the show is set is supposed to be under re-construction after a fire, but the cluttered, too bright set is more distraction than help to the production.
Watching the game has only a tenuous connection to the many threaded plot revolving around a musician/slacker Lawrence (a delightful Daniel Pagett) and the travails of his massive, extended family. We meet his endearingly over-functioning cousin Mary who, as played by Jennifer Dzialoszynski, was my favourite thing about this show. His girlfriend Amanda, a gawkily charming Caroline Toal, making the best of a bad business and the very funny Geoffrey Pounsett as Sky, get thrown into the mix along with affairs,a marriage proposal, house-fires, play-off hockey, dying parents,competing career objectives and an old flame in cottage country.
Any one of the pairings of characters could have furnished enough material for an hour-long play, especially with actors this good. There's some funny material here, some good dialogue, and some really fine acting, but the whole thing is far from ready to make a run for the play-offs.
The seminal issue with both these pieces is they tried far too hard to be likeable. I don't go to the Fringe to see people blatantly pandering for that elusive feel-good commercial hit, though I'm glad if that happens. I go to see compelling, often idiosyncratic and challenging work.
Speaking of feel-good, I've heard lots of good buzz about two comedies, UNBRIDLED AND UNHINGED and GRAHAM SMITH READS THE PHONEBOOK. I'm going to try get a ticket for BIG SHOT, which was recommended by a writer and performer I respect, who had seen it on tour.
I have tickets to see DINK and MYTH OF THE OSTRICH this weekend. Fingers crossed for some unique, high-risk theatre this weekend. By the way, the rummy cider is terrific and the tent is nice and warm!
Next Stage Theatre Festival continues at the Factory Theatre until Sunday, January 18th. www.fringetoronto.com for tickets and schedules. Tickets are also available in person onsite in the heated tent at 125 Bathurst Street.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Oh, Babies: LUNGS at the Tarragon Theatre
I missed LUNGS, the critical hit, when it was staged last spring at the Tarragon. It's currently being revived at the Tarragon.
Everyone I spoke to raved about it: the writing, the acting, the subject matter, the direction. Today, I went with a regular theatre-going friend of mine, to see what the fuss was about.
LUNGS is a two-hander that takes place in 70 minutes, on a minimal set: a bare room with nice, wood paneled walls, and floor, designed by Ken MacKenzie. British playwright, Duncan MacMillan apparently insists on this bare room stricture, along with "no mime, no props, no lighting changes." Kimberly Purtell lights it like a Fringe show, with subtle tonal shifts, but no specials.
This leaves the director, Weyni Mengesha and the actors, to bring the dense text to life, and they do so adeptly.
A 30-something straight couple: the gratingly loquacious and neurotic W, (Lesley Faulkner) and her long-suffering mister, M (Brendan Gall) are trying to decide whether or not to procreate. They are good people, they tell us. They are educated. They recycle.
What about the carbon foot-print? What about money? What about the over-populated planet?
After a lot of agonizing, they decide to go ahead and get pregnant. Complications ensue.
LUNGS is well-acted, with solid physical and vocal work from both actors. It is well written, if kind of pretentious, and overly talky. It's well-directed, within the constraints imposed on the director by the playwright.
I just didn't like it very much.
There's a lot of great dialogue, but when you really dislike one partner in a couple, it is hard to root for them as a pair, and hope they'll stay together. I had moments when I felt compassion for both of them, but W was so annoying, I just couldn't believe M didn't run out of the room screaming early on in the courtship. After a great, gut-wrenching plot twist late in the play, the feel-good ending felt like a tacked-on, pandering, rom-com style cop-out.
LUNGS is worth seeing for the performances, and some of the witty and thought-provoking dialogue. It's a worthy effort, just not great.
LUNGS continues at the TARRAGON EXTRA SPACE until January 25, 2015. www.tarragontheatre.com for more information and tickets.
Everyone I spoke to raved about it: the writing, the acting, the subject matter, the direction. Today, I went with a regular theatre-going friend of mine, to see what the fuss was about.
LUNGS is a two-hander that takes place in 70 minutes, on a minimal set: a bare room with nice, wood paneled walls, and floor, designed by Ken MacKenzie. British playwright, Duncan MacMillan apparently insists on this bare room stricture, along with "no mime, no props, no lighting changes." Kimberly Purtell lights it like a Fringe show, with subtle tonal shifts, but no specials.
This leaves the director, Weyni Mengesha and the actors, to bring the dense text to life, and they do so adeptly.
A 30-something straight couple: the gratingly loquacious and neurotic W, (Lesley Faulkner) and her long-suffering mister, M (Brendan Gall) are trying to decide whether or not to procreate. They are good people, they tell us. They are educated. They recycle.
What about the carbon foot-print? What about money? What about the over-populated planet?
After a lot of agonizing, they decide to go ahead and get pregnant. Complications ensue.
LUNGS is well-acted, with solid physical and vocal work from both actors. It is well written, if kind of pretentious, and overly talky. It's well-directed, within the constraints imposed on the director by the playwright.
I just didn't like it very much.
There's a lot of great dialogue, but when you really dislike one partner in a couple, it is hard to root for them as a pair, and hope they'll stay together. I had moments when I felt compassion for both of them, but W was so annoying, I just couldn't believe M didn't run out of the room screaming early on in the courtship. After a great, gut-wrenching plot twist late in the play, the feel-good ending felt like a tacked-on, pandering, rom-com style cop-out.
LUNGS is worth seeing for the performances, and some of the witty and thought-provoking dialogue. It's a worthy effort, just not great.
LUNGS continues at the TARRAGON EXTRA SPACE until January 25, 2015. www.tarragontheatre.com for more information and tickets.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
A TART & SWEET HOLIDAY TREAT - CINDERELLA at The Elgin Theatre
Last Thursday night, my god-daughter and I bailed out of a taxi and joined the throng outside the Elgin Theatre, queuing up for the opening night of CINDERELLA - The Gags to Riches Musical.
I freely confess that I love pantomimes. The venerable English Christmas tradition has a history going back to the Saturnalia pageants of the ancient Romans. Ross Petty's 19th incarnation of his annual holiday production did not disappoint.
The show began with two Wayne's World types, Dwayne and Zane ( Panto stalwart Eddie Glen and fine panto writer, Reid Janisse, respectively) who are wizards in training at a magic academy that bears a passing resemblance to Hogwarts. The dudes steal their pompous Professor Yongenbloor's (Dan Chameroy, who re-appears as an utterly delightful Plumbum, the Fairy Godmother) magic wand and use it to transform the old French fairytale of Cinderella into a pop musical, set in present-day Toronto.
Singing, dancing, satire, sight gags, double entendres, loud booing of villains and all manner of merry mayhem ensues.
A put-upon Cinderella (Danielle Wade) struggles to save her organic market from the clutches of Revolta Bulldoza ( Ross Petty), her evil stepmother, and her awful step-sisters, Nastine ( Bryn McAuley) and Shakiki (Cleopatra Williams).
Petty shoe-horns on the Spanx, and coats himself with the contents of an entire MAC counter to concoct a deliciously nasty Wicked Stepmother. He delivered some of the best lines - scripted, and otherwise - of the night. Revolta's offspring, Williams and McAuley channel a combo-platter of Kardashian and Jersey Shore to create their fun-to-watch Mean Girls.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a handsome and successful Prince of Pop (Jeff Lillico) is stalked by groupies, but seeks a significant other who shares his love of healthy organic food. A reality television ball on the CBC gives him a chance to find a girl he can give a rose to. Lillico is perfectly cast as a soulful, singing and dancing Prince.
Danielle Wade makes a lovely Cinderella. With the help of her dear friend Buttons, (panto stalwart and charmer, Eddie Glen) some garden gnomes, and a fabulously unbalanced Fairy Godmother, good triumphs over Evil, and Cinderella gets her fella - and a ride to the ball in a show-stopper of a horse-drawn carriage. My young charge and I gasped in delight when it appeared, as did the rest of the audience.
This is a stylish production, with a well-crafted and funny script, solidly directed by Tracey Flye. There's more than enough satire to keep this fairy tale out of saccharine territory . Bob Foster keeps the musical numbers going at an energetic clip. Michael Gianfrancesco designed some lovely costumes and makes clever use of projections to create an appealing and uncluttered set. Both the cast and the audience had a lot of fun during the proceedings.
If you've never made a panto part of your holiday tradition, this is an absolutely excellent way to waste some time and money with young people you love during this festive season.
My god-daughter was still talking about the show a week later. And we both got a pony for Christmas - without having to try and convince her parents to let us turn their garage into a barn! Have an ice-cream in the interval, and go look at the mechanical windows at the Bay and the lights at City Hall after the show. Holiday magic in the city doesn't get much better than this.
Cinderella at the Elgin Theatre continues until January 4th 2015 RossPetty.com
I freely confess that I love pantomimes. The venerable English Christmas tradition has a history going back to the Saturnalia pageants of the ancient Romans. Ross Petty's 19th incarnation of his annual holiday production did not disappoint.
The show began with two Wayne's World types, Dwayne and Zane ( Panto stalwart Eddie Glen and fine panto writer, Reid Janisse, respectively) who are wizards in training at a magic academy that bears a passing resemblance to Hogwarts. The dudes steal their pompous Professor Yongenbloor's (Dan Chameroy, who re-appears as an utterly delightful Plumbum, the Fairy Godmother) magic wand and use it to transform the old French fairytale of Cinderella into a pop musical, set in present-day Toronto.
Singing, dancing, satire, sight gags, double entendres, loud booing of villains and all manner of merry mayhem ensues.
A put-upon Cinderella (Danielle Wade) struggles to save her organic market from the clutches of Revolta Bulldoza ( Ross Petty), her evil stepmother, and her awful step-sisters, Nastine ( Bryn McAuley) and Shakiki (Cleopatra Williams).
Petty shoe-horns on the Spanx, and coats himself with the contents of an entire MAC counter to concoct a deliciously nasty Wicked Stepmother. He delivered some of the best lines - scripted, and otherwise - of the night. Revolta's offspring, Williams and McAuley channel a combo-platter of Kardashian and Jersey Shore to create their fun-to-watch Mean Girls.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a handsome and successful Prince of Pop (Jeff Lillico) is stalked by groupies, but seeks a significant other who shares his love of healthy organic food. A reality television ball on the CBC gives him a chance to find a girl he can give a rose to. Lillico is perfectly cast as a soulful, singing and dancing Prince.
Danielle Wade makes a lovely Cinderella. With the help of her dear friend Buttons, (panto stalwart and charmer, Eddie Glen) some garden gnomes, and a fabulously unbalanced Fairy Godmother, good triumphs over Evil, and Cinderella gets her fella - and a ride to the ball in a show-stopper of a horse-drawn carriage. My young charge and I gasped in delight when it appeared, as did the rest of the audience.
This is a stylish production, with a well-crafted and funny script, solidly directed by Tracey Flye. There's more than enough satire to keep this fairy tale out of saccharine territory . Bob Foster keeps the musical numbers going at an energetic clip. Michael Gianfrancesco designed some lovely costumes and makes clever use of projections to create an appealing and uncluttered set. Both the cast and the audience had a lot of fun during the proceedings.
If you've never made a panto part of your holiday tradition, this is an absolutely excellent way to waste some time and money with young people you love during this festive season.
My god-daughter was still talking about the show a week later. And we both got a pony for Christmas - without having to try and convince her parents to let us turn their garage into a barn! Have an ice-cream in the interval, and go look at the mechanical windows at the Bay and the lights at City Hall after the show. Holiday magic in the city doesn't get much better than this.
Cinderella at the Elgin Theatre continues until January 4th 2015 RossPetty.com
Friday, November 14, 2014
CIRCLE JERK and THE MOTHERF**KER WITH THE HAT
I had a two show Sunday last weekend: it was almost like a Fringe festival Sunday.
My day started at Queen and Spadina where I went to see CIRCLE JERK, a collection of four short plays punctuated by musical interludes.
Rather than the usual recorded interval music, Soup Can Theatre, safeword and Aim for the Tangent commissioned composers to write interstitial music inspired by the lines that begin and end each of the four, short plays that form the circle.
Those lines were elicited from from over 300 audience submissions. The companies settled on "Subtlety is not your specialty", "What's Bulgarian for slut?", " I think it's time we talked about your filthy rituals" and "I fucking hate potatoes".
DUST PEDDLING feature Scott Dermondy ( who also wrote this script) and Lisa Hamalainen having a mildly kinky sexy time. She requires poetry of her lover, and his choices are not always to her liking. I enjoyed the actors' enthusiastic performances, which were well directed by Joanne Williams, but I was less keen on the amorphous text.
SEX and THIS feature Tiffany Deobald and Carys Lewis, as two friends preparing for a costume party being hosted by a frenemy. Things change when they receive a disturbing electronic message.Wesley J. Colford's study of the influence of of social media on the rituals of grieving among the young is sensitive and well-observed. It was deftly staged by Jakob Ehman. The text could have done with a bit of pruning, but it was affecting and well-done.
We then had an interval, and returned to MAYPOLE ROSE, my favourite of the shorts. The script is about a young gay married couple having a night in. One fella is a suit and the other a former twink, turned house-husband. Alexander Plouffe and G. Kyle Shields made an adorable couple, teetering on one of those turning points in a marriage. Brandon Crone did a fine job both writing and directing. Fair warning: you may never look at a banana the same way again.
The final piece, THE SESSION is a high-stakes micro drama set in a nuclear plant. It's a smart script, if a bit too wordy, though very well performed by Allan Michael Brunet and Matt Pilipiak, as a bottle rocket of a safety engineer and an uptight, newbie HR appointed therapist, respectively. The ending packs a wallop.
It's a tiny space. The writers are young and often loquacious. The intimacy of the space makes the pieces even more in-your-face, but that's part of the charm of the work. I enjoyed CIRCLE JERK. It was committed work from a bunch of energetic young theatre practitioners, self-producing with their own money. Go with an open mind. It's not polished perfection, but it is entertaining, challenging, spirited and fun.
Polished perfection takes place over at COALMINE THEATRE, a 65 seat space at Pape and Danforth. Layne Coleman rigorously directs a stellar cast in a gritty, blackly hilarious, and deeply humane production of Stephen Adly Guiguris' Tony-nominated, THE MOTHER F**KER WITH THE HAT.
Jackie (Sergio Di Zio) and Veronica (a terrific Melissa D'Agostino) are childhood sweethearts. He's fresh out of the joint, and trying to hang onto his sobriety. Veronica is still drinking hard, and using, but she's a workhorse, who has held down their place, and waited for him to get out and clean up.
When Jackie comes home with news of a job, they decide to celebrate but then, the appearance of a hat on their breakfast table causes all hell to break loose. What's been going on while he's been away? Is there another man?
Wounded, scared and furious, Jackie sets off to find the MOFO who left his hat. He heads over to his sponsor's place, Ralph D (a note-perfect Ted Dykstra playing a guy you alternate between pitying and wanting to punch) who is living with his chronically pissed off wife, the sullen and sorry Victoria (a cast against type, and very good Nicole Stamp). He also enlists his put-upon gay cousin, Julio (Juan Chorian in a show-stealing turn) to help him exact revenge.
I don't want to tell you what happens, because I want you to go see this show. It is a great examination of guilt, betrayal, loyalty and lies in long relationships and old friendships.
Di Zio is the engine of this piece, and he sensibly runs at a low, tight throttle for most of it. He reminded me of a pissed-off cat about pounce. It is a finely nuanced performance, and he takes us where we need to go. I defy you to leave the theatre with a dry eye.
This is great script, well-directed, in an intimate space, with a uniformly wonderful cast. Get a ticket: this will sell out.
CIRCLE JERK is at lemonTree studio, 196 SPADINA (lower level) just north of Queen, Friday to Sunday until November 23rd. www.SoupCanTheatre.com for tickets
THE MOTHER F**KER WITH THE HAT is at the Coalmine Theatre , 798 Danforth Street. Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30 pm. No show Mondays. Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com
My day started at Queen and Spadina where I went to see CIRCLE JERK, a collection of four short plays punctuated by musical interludes.
Rather than the usual recorded interval music, Soup Can Theatre, safeword and Aim for the Tangent commissioned composers to write interstitial music inspired by the lines that begin and end each of the four, short plays that form the circle.
Those lines were elicited from from over 300 audience submissions. The companies settled on "Subtlety is not your specialty", "What's Bulgarian for slut?", " I think it's time we talked about your filthy rituals" and "I fucking hate potatoes".
DUST PEDDLING feature Scott Dermondy ( who also wrote this script) and Lisa Hamalainen having a mildly kinky sexy time. She requires poetry of her lover, and his choices are not always to her liking. I enjoyed the actors' enthusiastic performances, which were well directed by Joanne Williams, but I was less keen on the amorphous text.
SEX and THIS feature Tiffany Deobald and Carys Lewis, as two friends preparing for a costume party being hosted by a frenemy. Things change when they receive a disturbing electronic message.Wesley J. Colford's study of the influence of of social media on the rituals of grieving among the young is sensitive and well-observed. It was deftly staged by Jakob Ehman. The text could have done with a bit of pruning, but it was affecting and well-done.
We then had an interval, and returned to MAYPOLE ROSE, my favourite of the shorts. The script is about a young gay married couple having a night in. One fella is a suit and the other a former twink, turned house-husband. Alexander Plouffe and G. Kyle Shields made an adorable couple, teetering on one of those turning points in a marriage. Brandon Crone did a fine job both writing and directing. Fair warning: you may never look at a banana the same way again.
The final piece, THE SESSION is a high-stakes micro drama set in a nuclear plant. It's a smart script, if a bit too wordy, though very well performed by Allan Michael Brunet and Matt Pilipiak, as a bottle rocket of a safety engineer and an uptight, newbie HR appointed therapist, respectively. The ending packs a wallop.
It's a tiny space. The writers are young and often loquacious. The intimacy of the space makes the pieces even more in-your-face, but that's part of the charm of the work. I enjoyed CIRCLE JERK. It was committed work from a bunch of energetic young theatre practitioners, self-producing with their own money. Go with an open mind. It's not polished perfection, but it is entertaining, challenging, spirited and fun.
Polished perfection takes place over at COALMINE THEATRE, a 65 seat space at Pape and Danforth. Layne Coleman rigorously directs a stellar cast in a gritty, blackly hilarious, and deeply humane production of Stephen Adly Guiguris' Tony-nominated, THE MOTHER F**KER WITH THE HAT.
Jackie (Sergio Di Zio) and Veronica (a terrific Melissa D'Agostino) are childhood sweethearts. He's fresh out of the joint, and trying to hang onto his sobriety. Veronica is still drinking hard, and using, but she's a workhorse, who has held down their place, and waited for him to get out and clean up.
When Jackie comes home with news of a job, they decide to celebrate but then, the appearance of a hat on their breakfast table causes all hell to break loose. What's been going on while he's been away? Is there another man?
Wounded, scared and furious, Jackie sets off to find the MOFO who left his hat. He heads over to his sponsor's place, Ralph D (a note-perfect Ted Dykstra playing a guy you alternate between pitying and wanting to punch) who is living with his chronically pissed off wife, the sullen and sorry Victoria (a cast against type, and very good Nicole Stamp). He also enlists his put-upon gay cousin, Julio (Juan Chorian in a show-stealing turn) to help him exact revenge.
I don't want to tell you what happens, because I want you to go see this show. It is a great examination of guilt, betrayal, loyalty and lies in long relationships and old friendships.
Di Zio is the engine of this piece, and he sensibly runs at a low, tight throttle for most of it. He reminded me of a pissed-off cat about pounce. It is a finely nuanced performance, and he takes us where we need to go. I defy you to leave the theatre with a dry eye.
This is great script, well-directed, in an intimate space, with a uniformly wonderful cast. Get a ticket: this will sell out.
CIRCLE JERK is at lemonTree studio, 196 SPADINA (lower level) just north of Queen, Friday to Sunday until November 23rd. www.SoupCanTheatre.com for tickets
THE MOTHER F**KER WITH THE HAT is at the Coalmine Theatre , 798 Danforth Street. Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30 pm. No show Mondays. Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com
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