Well! Greetings to you, blogland, and what an exciting time this is to get BetweenLines back on its feet! As I creep out from underneath this rock and step out into the world of great performance we all know as “Toronto” I hear the faint sound of tumbleweeds fumbling over hot sand…
But let me not be so dramatic – of course it is now officially Post-holiday-season and there are plenty of things worming their way to the surface. So take those leather bound agendas, those finger-print free Blackberry’s, flip to January 2009 and let’s see if we can fill in some of that empty space, yes??
Them & Us is running in Passe Muraille’s Mainspace effective January 8th. A world-premiere of Tracy Dawson’s (Second City) first full-length play, Them & Us is bound to hit the spot – a comedic jab at the strange binary that relationships tend toward. What sold me: “Tracy Dawson’s play is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Like life.” Sold.
Hang around Passe Muraille near the end of the month and you’re in for an installment of their infamous Backspace productions. In this case, Contrary Company will be performing their original You Fancy Yourself from January 26th until February 14th. I cannot comment as I haven’t seen anything of theirs to date, but can you go wrong with the Passe Muraille Backspace? I like to think not (and I am never wrong).
Tarragon Theatre is always a worthwhile venture, and this year they’ve focused on remounting some major pieces, kicking off the season with Wajdi Moawad’s Scorched and now Hannah Moscovitch’s East of Berlin. Running January 7th until February 1st, this story recounts a man’s journey as he deals with his father’s past as a Nazi doctor in concentration camps.
Thankfully Tarragon’s also kept some new work in the mix, and in this case I’m pretty floored by what Ubuntu is offering. I’ve got a glint in my eye – it appears every so often; a childlike giddiness, the hope of the unknown – and can’t wait til this show hits the Mainspace on January 29th. Conceived of by an ensemble, this piece is a dance-music-storytelling-Canadian-South African medley. How about that?
And for a purely side-splitting experience, Berkeley Street Theatre is housing Diane Flack’s Bear With Me from January 7th until January 24th. The female body can be a hilarious machine, particularly en route to motherhood; apparently, pregnancy is a gold mine for humour.
One of the greatest resources that Toronto has to offer has got to be the number of movie theatres showing great quality film. While on my quest to find great things to see this month, I noticed a plethora of films popping up that were on my personal list. At The Royal, JCVD and Rachel Getting Married – two TIFF giants – are making an appearance. The Revue Cinema is following suite and playing RocknRolla and Religulous. There’s Passcehndaele at Mt.Pleasant Theatre, My Winnipeg at Bloor Cinema. Yes, the movie theatre’s are teaming with great flicks all around. No need to settle on The Day the Earth Stood Still, unless you’re curious to see the one-note pony that is Keanu Reeves attempt dialogue in Mandarin.
Scientists have proven that there is only one cure for the cursĕd SADs (and it isn’t bombing your neighbour, though his hedges may grow in a fashion that you may morally resent). Yes, sirs and madams, the cure for SADs is activity – so move those limbs and find something that warms the blood while we wade through two and a half more months of winter together!
