January 09 News

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!

June 08 Newsletter

Happy June, friends! This is an exciting month for theatre in Canada – this year’s Magnetic North festival is in Vancouver and alas I unfortunately couldn’t make it, but am excited to start hearing news from Ms. Jessica Ruano via her new facebook group – [Theatre Across Canada] – or check out her regular blog at www.jessicaruano.wordpress.com for news of her cross-Canada escapades. 

If you, like me, are here in Toronto during Mag.North do not fret because Toronto’s got Pride in June! For some, yes, it’s that time again; the festival has been running since 1981 and is probably the definitive events for Toronto. As for me, this will be my official first Toronto Pride experience. On paper, it runs from June 20^th to June 29^th, but there are a ton of events, gatherings, and concerts leading up to Pride Week. BetweenLines will feature a Pride exclusive newsletter (once I can climb out from underneath a pile of websites and press documents). This Pride thing is bigger than sliced bread!

For now, here is how you should keep yourself busy and tuned in early June:

Minotaur
Fringe Remount

This show apparently frightened the heck out of audiences in 2006 during Toronto Fringe, and I must draw your attention to it so that when you see it you can tell me all about it. You see, I am not ‘into’ horror type things. I’m bad enough with movies, and apparently the visceral experience of this performance has lead to nightmares for its audience members. Some people love that stuff, I for one scare embarrassingly easily.

A sort of RPG-meets-theatre experience, the audience becomes drawn into this show through what is originally set up as a lecture. Soon, it turns into a haunting story about a house at 27 edgedale road, where the belongings of a mysterious Nora and Keira were found…but their whereabouts are unknown. Dun dun dunnnnn. At any rate, unspun theatre promises “one of the most chilling and original shows the city has seen in years.” They have JUST extended their run so if you don’t catch them before June 7, you can see Minotaur between June 10-14 at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse, 8pm nightly.

 

unspun theatre

Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse

79A St. George Street

May 28- June 7, June 10-14

At door $15, or adv www.totix.ca

www.unspuntheatre.com

Uncle Vanya

Brush up on your classics theatre lovers because Uncle Vanya is one of Chekhov’s gems. It’s been admired largely for its tone; a sort of lack-lustre portrait of a number of people whose boredom with their lives makes the reader question the possibility for love and hope. It’s a brilliant and intricately structured play and I’m glad to see that Soulpepper will be staging it (again – originally staged in 2001). Director László Marton is taking it into his hands once again, and I’m keen to see these fantastically complex characters come to life.

 

Soulpepper Theatre

Young Centre for the Performing Arts

55 Mill St. Bldg 49 (Distillery District)

June 5 – 12

416.866.8666

www.soulpepper.ca/

Beauty Salon

Theatre? Sure. Performance piece/art installation/interactive community experience? YUH-HUH! Basically, this even is well, a beauty salon. You book an appointment, get a personalized treatment from Beauty Salon creator, Moynan King (known for the interplay of power and beauty in past works), or any one of the other retro-styled Beauty Salon Attendants and voila! You are transformed into beautiful, beautiful art. The guiding point of inquiry for this piece is, in fact, our own notions of beauty — where they play out in our lives, and how our appearance affects our perception. The audience becomes one part voyeur and one part exhibition as the tables are turned in this performance piece. Call the salon’s reception to book your appointment: 416.975.8555.

Buddies in Bad Times

dir. Moynan King

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St.

June 5 – 14

416.975.8555

www.artsexy.ca

 

Edward the Crazy Man
World Premiere 

Coming to the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People is Edward the Crazy Man; my pick for shows to see just for the title. How can you go wrong?

This piece is based on a children’s book, and brought to stage by Workman Arts in partnership with Toronto’s Center for Addiction to Mental Health. In my humble opinion, it’s a great point of departure for a play. Not only do we get to experience a youth-concerned production (generally a rowdier, more stylized, colourful experience for the audience member), but as a piece of theatre, Edward the Crazy Man draws attention to certain problematic social norms surrounding homelessness and mental illness in a positive way. So relevant to Toronto when the reality is that TO’s infrastructure houses an abundant array of people, and while I wasn’t raised in TO I can imagine that learning about homelessness is an important part of the maturation process. It’s about community after all, and shedding light on those seemingly dark corners.

Workman Theatre with TCAMH

dir. Leah Cherniak

LKTYP, 165 Front St. E

June 10 – 19 

416.583.4339.x.7

http://www.workmanarts.com/Theatre/Edward.cfm

May 08 Newsletter!!!

EYYYYYY SHE’S BACK! I’m quite excited about this Spring in Toronto, and so this is just a snippet of the really great shows that are coming up.

Harbourfront Center

Do you sort of miss So You Think You Can Dance? Yah, me too. On my foray into what dance performances are spicing up Toronto’s entertainment scene, I stumbled upon two shows playing consecutively at the Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage:

Short Works by New Zealand’s Black Grace is running from April 30-May 3. This is an all-male dance ensemble described as testosterone driven and athletic;

“The dance equivalent to that other famous Kiwi cultural export, the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team, these dancers bring to their game the same kind of undeniable masculine energy but serve it up with a refined agility that embraces and celebrates the traditions of their history and heritage.”
- Dance Programmer Jeanne Holmes

The Space Between by Australia’s C!RCA is a dance theatre piece that runs briefly from May 6- 10. Now, I don’t know if it’s frowned upon for theatre journalists to play favourites, but I prefer to think of it as “exposing a bias”, amiright? My biggest love in theatre is Nouveau Cirque – acrobatics, investigations of relationships through action, an exciting and often highly stylized plotline… amazing. The Space Between is described as an “athletically graceful and bold work [that] spans the worlds of contemporary dance, new circus and theatre in an exploration of the things that separate us.”

I’m in.

And finally, along the same lines, C!RCA is also bringing to the Harbourfront,

46 Circus Acts in 45 Minutes. 46 Circus Acts in 45 Minutes?! 46?! In 45???! Are you as intrigued as I am? Well it’s one day only, May 7.

Of course, other than the Harboufront Center there are of course a cacophony of options!

The Eco Show

Toronto Premiere

Necessary Angel Theatre Company AD Daniel Brooks is once again going to make jaws drop Toronto-wide (and beyond?) with this revamped production. Originally workshopped in Toronto, the show opened in Montreal in 07 as part of the Festival TransAmériques. Highly acclaim for its structure and minimalist aesthetic, The Eco Show is finally being brought to Toronto. Toying with the levels of inter-section between environment and private life, of culture and generation, Brooks wrote and directed this piece which will be playing at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. A highly relevant creation that will hopefully allow us to mull over the relationship between human and the natural world while being visually amazed Previews May 13-14, Runs May 15 to June 1 2008.

Necessary Angel Theatre Company
dir. Daniel Brooks
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St
May 15 – June 1
416.975.8555
boxoffice@artsexy.ca

Speaking of Buddies in Bad Times. they’re hosting this year’s annual continent-wide queer comedy festival, We’re Funny That Way. April 30- May 3.

My Fellow Creatures

And while we’re on the topic of Buddies in Bad Times, they are also being associated with a new production: My Fellow Creatures, written and directed by Michael Rubenfeld.

This piece is the fruit of the Buddies’ playwright development program, and budding theatre company, Absit Omen Theatre. Set in a prison, this play revolves around a conversation between two inmates as their pasts come to light.

Absit has been producing plays since 2001, often in association with playwrights Rubenfeld (Present Tense and Suck and Blow) and Hannah Moscovitch (The Russian Play, and Essay). Priding themselves on “simply staged plays exploring topical, often controversial themes with wit and intelligence,” this piece will play at Theatre Passe Muraille’s Mainspace from May 15-June 1

My Fellow Creatures
dir. Michael Rubenfeld
Theatre Passe-Muraille Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Ave
May 15- June 1
416.504.7529
www.artsboxoffice.ca

Sexual Practices of the Japanese

Toronto Premiere

Last Summer I happened upon this show as part of the Magnetic North in Ottawa, and it was really a winner. Vancouver’s own A Theatre Replacement’s Sexual Practices of the Japanese is both sexy and fun, while also being touching and even heavily concerning.

This is a show that is bound to make you both giggle and feel awkward. Based around certain common stereotypes about Japanese sexuality, this show plays with sexuality in some thought-provoking locals; in the office, on a subway car and even in a Tokyo-based love hotel. This show is a perfect balance of light humour, sexual banter, and hidden truths.

A Theatre Replacement (Vancouver)
dir. Maiko Bae Yamamoto & James Long
Factory Theatre, Mainspace, 125 Bathurst Street
May 1 – May 18
416.504.9971

Evil Dead The Musical

I hear that Evil Dead’s musical theatre incarnation, aptly named Evil Dead The Musical has extended their stay in Toronto until June 14th! I also hear that, in line with the original movie, it successfully captures that 80s, B-list cheese originally brought to us by Sam Raimi and Mr. Bruce Campbell. So if you are an Evil Dead fan, head to the Diesel Playhouse. You can even sit in the Splatter Zone if you don’t mind riding the TTC looking like a mass murderer.

Evil Dead The Musical
dir. Christopher Bond and Hinton Battle
Diesel Playhouse, 56 Blue Jays Way
closes June 14
416.971.5656

And so happy May 08 to you all! Please feel free to post or email BetweenLines at katter@gmail.com with your own performance news and opinion!