Falling into September

Life slowly returns to some version of normal.. Here’s what I’m seeing so far for Sptember.

  • 5th September – Apocryphonia have a PWYC concert at St. Thomas’ Huron Street featuring music from the Hundred Years War.
  • 11th September – Lucy Kirkwood’s The Welkin opens at Soulpepper.  Previews are the 4th to the 10th with the  run extending to October 5th.
  • Continue reading →

May 2025

Here are my top picks for May.

  • The Cunning Linguist opens at Factory Theatre on May 1st.  Previews are April 26th, 27th and 30th and it runs to May 11th.  A young queer Mexican woman, with her sidekick God, decides to move to Toronto…
  • Eugene Onegin in the Robert Carsen production opens May 2nd at the COC.  Runs until May 24th.
  • On May 3rd Confluence has a Teiya Kasahara curated show called Project T: Home Video (this is a change from the originally scheduled May 2nd/3rd show).

Continue reading →

Shedding a Skin

Amanda Wilkin’s Shedding a Skin premiered at London’s Soho Theatre a couple of years ago.  It’s now playing at Buddies in Bad Times in a Nightwood Theatre production directed by Cherissa Richards.  It’s a one woman show about a young woman escaping from corporate Hell and her boat dwelling boyfriend and discovering herself.  It’s set in contemporary London and Myah is black and very, very middle class; the daughter of successful immigrants with, as they tend to, ambitions for their children which Myah isn’t really living up to.

Continue reading →

Born-Again Crow

There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death or, The Born-Again Crow is perhaps the longest play title ever but the play itself, written by Caleigh Crow, is a fast moving ninety minutes.  It’s a collaboration between Native Earth Performing Arts and Buddies in Bad Times and it opened on Thursday night in a production directed by Jessica Carmichael.

Continue reading →

March 2025

So what looks fun in March?

  • March 1st (Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant) Apocryphonia have a “classical meets punk” concert called Brews, Beauties and Brawlers at St. Olave’s Anglican Church at 7.30pm.  PWYC.
  • March 5th Canadian Art Song Project have their annual gig at noon in the RBA.
  • Crow’s Theatre have a new adaptation of Measure for Measure in the Studio Theatre.  Previews on the 6th and 7th, opening on the 8th and running to March 16th.

Continue reading →

Last Landscape

Adam Paolozza’s Last Landscape opened at Buddies in Bad Times on Tuesday night.  It’s an experimental piece about environmental collapse.  It’s not exactly a “play”.  There are no words.  What there are are puppets, movement and sound.

1. Last Landscape_photo by Fran Chudnoff

Continue reading →

January 2025

jan2025So what’s in store for Toronto early in the New Year?

  • December 29th 2024 and January 3rd and 4th 2025, Toronto Operetta Theatre are presenting Kalman’s Countess Maritza at the Jane Mallett Theatre.
  • Bad New Days are presenting Adam Paolozza’s Last Landscape; a meditation on environmental collapse, at Buddies in Bad Times.  Preview is on the 12th with opening on the 14th and running until the 26th.
  • Continue reading →

Oraculum

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from Oraculum at Buddies in Bad Times.  I kew it featured a drag act and fortune telling but that was about it.  On one level it’s a show about the relationship between a straight bimbo PR consultant; Kayleigh, and her gay male twink friend; Matt, who is hustling a product line called Gape.  She’s about to get married and he’s doing all he can to undermine it including impersonating the on-line fortune teller she continually consults.

Oraculum-02_photo of Pythia (Christos Darlasis) and Denim (Emerson Sanderson) by Jeremy Mimnagh_set, projection, and lighting design by Cosette Ettie Pin, costume design by Pythia

Continue reading →

Coming up in December

december2024Here’s what’s coming down for the holiday season, as best I know:

  • December 3rd sees the Ensemble Studio performing a lunchtime concert in the RBA.
  • Soundstreams has a concert called Invocations on December 5th at the Jane Mallet Theatre.
  • Also on the 5th Oraculum opens at Buddies in Bad Times.  Previews are the 1st and 3rd and the run extends to the 15th.
  • On the 8th Opera Revue have BACH Humbug at the Redwood; the antidote to holiday music.
  • Confluence have their annual Young Associate curated gig at Heliconian on the 10th.
  • VOCES8 are appearing at Koerner Hall on the 13th.

Continue reading →