The Christmas Market works on several levels

Kanika Ambrose’s The Christmas Market opened on Wednesday in the Studio at Crow’s Theatre in a production directed by Philip Akin.  At one level it’s a much needed critique/exposé of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program and at another it’s basically a very funny comedy of manners.  The two are extremely well integrated so that the horror of the TFWP is a bit of a slow reveal.

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Rainbow on Mars

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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Measure for Measure

HOUSE + BODY’s production of Measure for Measure currently playing in the Studio Theatre at Crow’s is Shakespeare with a twist.  It’s an adaptation written and directed by Christopher Manousos.  The schtick is that it’s part of a radio series of live Shakespeare and we are watching the goings on in the studio where five actors play all twenty characters with commercials, sponsor messages and the rest of the baggage of radio broadcasts.  There are also some “off stage” shenanigans involving the actors; principally the two women who engage in wistful glances and then have an almost steamy scene in the “interval”.   I’m going to speculate that this is a sort of nod to Isabella’s ambiguous nature in the actual play.

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