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.
After five seasons of TV shows it’s easy to forget that Kim’s Convenience started life as a play at the Toronto Fringe in 2011. It’s now playing in it’s original stage form at Soulpepper in a production directed by Weyni Mengesha and with playwright Ins Choi this time playing the Appa (father) rather than the son Jung.
Soulpepper opened a run of a revival of their 2019 production of Tennessee William’s A Street Car Named Desire at the Young Centre on Tuesday evening. It’s a terrific production and performance but, as usually happens to me with Mr. Williams’ plays, I found myself admiring it more than enjoying it. Showcasing dishonest, violent people living lives of noisy despair without any form of redemption, however brilliantly portrayed, leaves me wondering what the point of it all is.
I don’t know whether I’d call this opera or not but it’s certainly music theatre and of a rather interesting kind. Obeah Opera is an a cappella theatre piece in which an all-female cast examines the story of the Salem Witch Trials from the perspective of enslaved African women. it’s being workshopped, in preparation for next year’s PANAMANIA; the arts and culture program of the Pan Am games, at the Dancemakers Studio in the Distillery (9 Trinity St, studio 313) on Sept 11, 12 and 13 at 8pm and Sept 14 at 2pm. It’s directed by Weyni Mengesha with music direction by Andrew Craig.
operaramblings 