The stage of The Box theatre had been transformed since I last saw it. The night I went to see Matchstick Theatre’s production of Oleanna, the stage had changed into a small office. The office had the typical look of academic interior design: a large desk, wooden chairs, and a mug full of pencils. The set gives an impression of the mediocre. Suspiciously mediocre. I knew that Oleanna couldn’t be about a simple office chat. The banality of the scenario, the set, and even the professor’s tweed jacket with leather elbow patches, began to feel like an obvious trap.
Oleanna was introduced in 1992 by the well-known playwright David Mamet. Oleanna is a story about Carol, a young and confused student, who meets with her professor John to discuss her failing marks. John decides put aside his other responsibilities to help Carol improve her grade. The meeting ends and they part ways. When they meet again, the circumstances have shifted in an unexpected way. Continue reading Review: Oleanna (Matchstick Theatre)→
Shows That Caught Our Eye in Toronto the Week of February 22nd, 2016
If you’re looking to go out and enjoy some theatre to take your mind off the hideous weather, then you’re truly the kind of dedicated theatre-goer we like! We’re here to make your show-scheduling by having our team select our most anticipated picks of the week. This time around, it’s Megan up at bat! Check out her picks in red under the cut.
Toronto’s Socratic Theatre Collective presents a gender-swapped take on Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a character that gets a lot of interpretation, from the BBC’s Sherlock, to the CBS procedural Elementary to the films starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law (Just to name some adaptations from recent history), when a writer needs a hyper-intellectual detective with barely functioning social skills the resident of 22B Baker street is a go-to choice.
The Socratic Theatre Collective have followed suit with their latest production, putting their own spin on the classic detective by genderswapping almost every character from the Holmes canon and sending them to run amok in a metafictional examination of the classic stories.
The hit dance production Betroffenheit returns to the Canadian Stage for a limited engagement
For an incredibly limited time engagement (until February 21), Canadian Stage brings back Betroffenheit, the dance/spoken word/movement piece that made waves during it’s initial debut during the 2015 Panamania. This performance that is at times unnerving, at times uncomfortable, at times zany, and all around eye-opening debuted to a packed house and currently what tickets are still available for the remaining performances are few and far in between.
Toronto’s Socratic Theatre Collective presents a gender-swapped take on Sherlock Holmes
Steve Martin’s absurdist play arrives on stage in Toronto, courtesy of Seven Siblings Theatre