Tag Archives: buddies in bad times

Pleasure and pain are impossible to separate

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“Pleasure and pain are impossible to separate” is the tag line for Bootycandy by John O’Hara. It’s a play about Black/Queer identity and it’s currently playing at Buddies in Bad Times in a co-production with Obsidian Theatre. It’s complex, episodic, impressionistic, very funny and quite filthy. The notes by director Jay Northcott can basically be summarised as “Go with the flow and be open to what’s happening around you”. It’s great advice. Trying to find a linear narrative or “meaning” in Bootycandy is just a recipe for frustration.

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October upcoming

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Music – concerts and opera

  • 2nd October – UoT Opera perform at noon in the RBA
  • 3rd October – Mozart’s Così fan tutte opens at the COC. Seven performances to October 18th
  • 6th October – Soundstreams present Steve Reich at 80 at Koerner Hall
  • 13th October – Tracy Dahl gives a recital at noon in the RBA
  • 15th October – Opera Atelier preview their upcoming Charpentier show in the RBA
  • 16th October – Toronto Operetta Theatre present La Grande-Duchess de Gérolstein in the Jane Mallett Theatre
  • 22nd October – Opera Atelier open The Death of Orpheus at Koerner Hall. Further shows on the 23rd and 24th
  • 29th October – Emma Nikolovska is in recital at Koerner Hall
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Is Art even possible?

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Artists exist to create Art. Why does the state of the world today make them question that purpose and has it always been so? Susanna Fournier and ted witzel have been asking themselves that, and why they keep trying to give up Art (and failing) for twelve years during which time the world has just got even more fucked up. The result is take rimbaud; a play by Susanna Fournier, directed by ted witzel currently playing at Buddies in Bad Times in partnership with the Howland Company.

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Coming up in May 2026

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Coming up… music etc

  • May 2nd.  The Artists’ Studio of the Canadian Children’s Opera Company are presenting Judith Weir’s The Black Spider.  It’a very rare chance to see a Judith Weir opera in Toronto.
  • There are two free shows on the 4th.  At noon Opera 5’s interns are performing in the RBA and in the evening it’s AtG’s Opera Pub at the Tranzac.
  • On the 5th there’s a sneak preview of Toronto Summer Music in the RBA at noon.
  • On the 6th Jane Archibald has a recital at Koerner Hall.

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What do I have to do to get some disrespect?

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The headline is a quote from late in the second half of Zaiba Baig’s double header Kainchee Lagaa + Jhooti: The Begging Brown Bitch Plays which opened on Thursday night at Buddies in Bad Times in a production directed by Tawiah Ben M’Carthy for House of Beida Inc.  The plays are loosely linked in that both deal one way or another with queerness and Pakistani-Canadian identity and experience.

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The Herald

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It Could Still Happen’s The Herald opened at Buddies in Bad Times last night.  It’s a really difficult work to pigeonhole.  It’s a poetic exploration of “labour” through words and music using Ancient Greece as a sort of vehicle for discussing more contemporary, or perhaps, universal concerns. It starts with playwright and director Jill Connell making a speech in front of a projection of the “principles for work” which could perhaps be summarised as “labour should be a temple of awareness” but along the way we get a lot of astrology; night charts and day charts and Antonio Banderas and whether his fashion line includes capes.

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Music and Theatre in March

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Here is what’s on the radar so far.:

Music

  • March 3rd at noon in the RBA the UofT Faculty of Music: France-Canada Academy of Vocal Arts have their annual collaborative recital.
  • March 12th to 15th UoT Opera are performing Britten’s Rape of Lucretia at Harbourfront Centre.

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Coming up in February

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Here’s a few things to look forward to next month.  Weirdly everything I know about so far is in the first half of the month so I’ll maybe do a supplemental for the back half in a couple of weeks time. Continue reading →

Make Banana Cry

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Make Banana Cry is a dance work by Andrew Tay and Stephen Thompson currently being presented by Toronto Dance Theatre at Buddies in Bad Times.  It’s an exploration of Asian stereotypes seen through both Asian and non Asian lenses.  Six dancers process through the audience which is arranged so that the dancers’ path is a U shape and nobody is more than two rows away from the action.  At the top of the U they add or subtract clothing and pick up props so each “procession” is a bit different.  The sound track is eclectic combining, inter alia, K-pop and J-pop with Western pseudo orientalism.  Inevitably Un bel di and extracts from Miss Saigon make brief appearances.

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The Green Line

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The Green Line takes two story lines set in Beirut a generation apart and weaves them into a fascinating, sometimes mesmerizing, poetic and sad story about two families torn apart by civil war.  It’s written by Makram Ayache and translated by Hiba Sleiman.  It opened on Thursday night at Buddies in Bad Times in a co-production with Factory Theatre and In Arms theatre Company directed by the author.

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