Lucy Kirkwood’s The Welkin is a rarity. It’s a serious play with an overwhelmingly female ensemble cast that looks at issues of class, gender, power and authority almost entirely through a female lens. It’s hard hitting, sometimes violent and often shocking which makes for compelling theatre. It opened on Thursday evening in the Baillie Theatre at Soulpepper in a co-pro by Soulpepper, Crow’s and the Howland Company, directed by Weyni Mengesha.
Old Times by Harold Pinter is currently playing at Soulpepper in a production directed by Peter Pasyk. It premiered in 1971 in London and i’s very much an artefact of its time and place besides being decidedly weird in a Pinteresque way. A well off married couple living somewhere fairly remote on the English coast are being visited by the woman who, twenty years earlier, was the wife’s roommate when they were both young “secretaries” in London but who is now married to a Sicilian aristo.
Devon Healey’s Rainbow on Mars opened on Wednesday evening at the Ada Slaight Hall at the Daniels Spectrum. It’s a co-production by Outside the March and the National Ballet directed by Nate Bitton and Mitchell Cushman with choreography by Robert Binet.
Canadian Stage’s Dream in High Park opened on Thursday night. This year it’s Marie Farsi’s production (adaptation?) of Romeo and Juliet. It’s given a Southern Italian setting in the 1930s/40s though any reference to Fascism or the war escaped me. It seemed largely an excuse to introduce some singing and dancing and some slightly forced humour into the opening scenes. That’s not the big problem though.
Lucian, Plato and the Secrets of the Pussy was my eighth and last show at this year’s Fringe. It wasn’t on my original list but I heard good things during the week so I added it. I’m glad I did. It’s written by Jules Spizzirri and Sydney Scott and directed by Alyssa Featherstone. It’s playing (there are two more shows) in one of the Fringe’s larger spaces; the Michael Young Theatre at Soulpepper.
Quiltro-Art by Tyra Hayward
Yasmine Agocs’ Quiltro, being presented by Basil Page Productions at Soulpepper as part of the Fringe is rather more than it seems. Here’s the blurb:
“What would you do if you could experience the memories of your ancestors? Following her parents’ divorce, 13-year-old Nina runs away to join a group of stray dogs in her town. On her journey of self-actualization and acceptance, the looming, ominous presence of a dangerous cryptic creature stalks her, preying on the fear within her deep, dark memories.”
Sara Masciotra-Milstein’s Me and You and the Highland Coo presented by Happy as a Clam Productions presented in the TD Finance Studio at Soulpepper as part of the fringe sounds light hearted enough. Jackie and Charlie, a couple of Canadians who have just got their Masters at Aberdeen plan a road trip in search of a highland cow plushie while waiting for their visa applications to clear. But there is trouble at home. Jackie’s father is in the last throes of cancer and Charlie’s brother hasd serious mental health problems. They decide to ignore text messages because if something important happens “they” will call (no they won’t says my personal experience).
Confessions of a Redheaded Coffeeshop Girl is a one woman show written and performed by Rebecca Perry. It’s currently running at the Alumnae Theatre as part of the Fringe. Perry plays Joanie Little, a recent anthropology graduate with a Jane Goodall fixation and a job in a coffeeshop. Applying her anthropological skills to the shop’s customers she takes us. on a tour of her urban jungle. There’s her silverback boss, the “large black coffee” penguin, her promiscuous peacock ex and Sue the wild turkey jogger; among others.
Divine Monster, by Elena Kaufman, directed by Mary Dwyer, is currently playing in the RBC Finance Studio at Soulpepper as part of the Fringe. Martha, a young, lesbian Canadian rock singer has just split up with her girlfriend on the Paris leg of a backpacking trip. She finds herself in Père Lachaise, chez Sarah Bernhardt, late at night. It’s one of the rare nights when an ancient ritual might free Bernhardt from her incorporeal existence if the right “victim” can be found. Martha, who has basically decided that she is a failure with no future might be the ideal candidate. At least she can see and talk to Sarah though not the other ghosts who lurk around.
Hoody is a tongue in cheek reworking of Little Red Riding Hood. The schtick is that the characters have all fallen out of a copy of Perreault’s Once Upon A Time and ended up in Toronto. In the process they have changed form so that LRRH is now a very large man (Graham Knox) and the Wolf is now a woman called Lu (Lu, loup geddit?) with an unfortunate addiction to human flesh. It’s written by Dawna Wightman (who also plays Lu) and presented by Hoody Ink in the Solo Room at Tarragon as part of the Fringe.
operaramblings 