Angela Sun is a Toronto-based fat East Asian performer, theatre creator, poet, and writer. She is currently a member of the environmental theatre company, Broadleaf Theatre. In her spare time she enjoys reading and writing about art, feminism, pop culture, identity, body image, mental health, and social justice. Ironically, she fell in love with Canadian theatre after seeing a televised production of Kristen Thomson’s I, Claudia on CBC. (She finally saw the remount on stage 5 years later and was over the moon.) You can follow her exploits on her sporadically-updated Twitter @21sungelas.
Soulpepper’s Blood Wedding is a visually engaging mixed bag, now on stage in Toronto
Soulpepper Theatre plays with cool genres in their interpretation of the first play in Fredrico Garcia Lorca’s popular Rural Trilogy, Blood Wedding. But while the production demonstrates some interesting ideas, there was a certain je ne sais quoi missing that prevents it from being exceptional.
An intelligently written portrait of Gertrude Stein & Alice Toklasat Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times
The story of Gertrude and Alice, currently playing at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, is one that has been toldbefore: how a literary trailblazer (Gertrude Stein) owed much of their work to the life-long care, support, and inspiration provided by their wife (Alice B. Toklas). However, this version of the story is anything but boring thanks to the extraordinary performances and the intelligent writing of Anna Chatterton and Evalyn Parry.
This Is That pokes fun at Canadian radio with fun and familiarity, now playing in Toronto
What do you think of when you think about Canada? Does your mind conjure up images of pick-up trucks and Quebec? What do you think of when you hear the words “CBC Radio One?” A hard-hitting interview about the latest updates to the Canadian Food Guide? All this and more is ridiculed in Pat Kelly and Peter Oldring’s This Is That (a part of the Headliner Series at this year’s Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival), a staged version of the famed satirical CBC radio show that pokes fun at our particular brand of CBC-approved Canadian culture.
David French’s romantic comedy Salt-Water Moon takes the stage at the Factory Theatre in Toronto
“Reimagined” for a modern day audience, director Ravi Jain’s creative reworking of David French’s classic Newfoundland romantic comedy, Salt-Water Moon (now playing at Factory Theatre), is both winsomely endearing and utterly swoon-worthy.
Mustard, at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, is “smart, funny” and “absolutely superb”
At its core, Mustard (now onstage at Tarragon Theatre Extraspace) may be one of those coming-of-age stories that teen shows are made of, but playwright Kat Sandler turns all the conventional tropes on its head in this entertaining but slightly confusing show.