Category Archives: Performance review – Theatre

The internet is a monster

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Octet, by Dave Malloy, opened at Crow’s Theatre on Wednesday evening.  I guess it’s Crow’s big musical this year; a kind of follow up to Pierre, Natasha and the Great Comet, but it’s actually a very different kind of show.  One major difference is musical.  All the singing is a capella which puts extra demands on the singers (and isn’t unpleasantly loud).  The whole cast; eight of course, are really rather good singers and pull off the solo and ensemble numbers extremely well.  They can also act and they are backed up by a really effective lighting plot Imogen Wilson) and video (Nathan Bruce) that pretty much replace the set, which is pretty basic.

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A great king, a lonely king

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King Gilgamesh and the Man of the Wild opened at Soulpepper on Wednesday evening but I saw a preview on Sunday which forms the basis for this review.  It’s an unusual and compelling show with a clever story line, some terrific acting (verbal and physical) and a Sufi influenced Arabic jazz band for good measure.

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The Welkin is compelling theatre that transcends time and place

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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.

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Old Times

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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.

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Rainbow on Mars

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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.

photo-by-bruce-zinger.-creator-performer-devon-healey-left-and-members-of-the-national-ballet-of-canada-rbc-apprentice-programme-in-a-production-still-from-rainbow-on-mars

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Feud, what feud?

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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.

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Lucian, Plato and the Secrets of the Pussy

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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.

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Quiltro

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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.”

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Me and You and the Highland Coo

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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).

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Chimping

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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.

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