With her love of theatre, dance and writing, Ashima Suri jumped on the opportunity to write for Mooney On Theatre. Ashima is an award-winning established dance artist with her own dance theatre company called Limitless Productions. In her own work, she uses art as a tool for social change. As a reviewer, she seeks out shows that speak to the diversity in the community. She loves to watch innovative shows that break the norms and challenge the audiences.
Having previously worked with First Nations teen moms, I was particularly interested in watching the SummerWorks show Maria Gets a New Life. Cherish Violet Blood, who plays the First Nations single mom Maria Grace, was captivating right from the beginning as she commanded the stage with her black high-heel boots and strong presence.
There was a sense of mystery right from the beginning when the audience walked into the theatre and saw a stage filled with stacked empty boxes. What could all those boxes mean? We later discover that it was a very creative set-design to resemble a vacant house that Maria and her two teenage children, Honey and Baby, inhabited.
Have you ever had a moment in your life that was so traumatic you wish you could forget? Or have you ever tried to recall a great memory but couldn’t remember all the details? Through fascinating multimedia, strong performance and versatile movement, Sook-Yin Lee and Benjamin Kamino explore these questions of remembering and forgetting as they bare it all in the SummerWorks show, How Can I Forget?.
The title of this production was the first thing that made me want to see this show. It piqued my curiosity, stimulated my senses and to be honest, made me want to eat a little hot wasabi. With some sushi ofcourse. Kent Lam’s Fringe show, Drowning in Wasabi, had me smiling throughout. The show was a collection of creative monologues delivered by talented actors who really embodied their characters.
There is nothing that makes me happier than watching a show that has a well-written script and actors with great comedic timing. With all the rain pouring down today putting a damper on people’s spirits, the cast of Drowning in Wasabi sure knew how to lighten up the mood and provide us some great entertainment!
The best way for me to describe my experience in watching DABDA is by comparing it to watching a powerful choreographed contemporary dance routine by legends such as Mia Michaels or Sonya Tayeh from the show So You Think You Can Dance. The routines tend to be so captivating that by the end of the routine I catch myself taking a deep breath and tapping into emotions I didn’t even know I had. DABDA did exactly that for me and more.
Generally, I can be fidgety in theatres after sitting down for a long period of time, but not in this show. This Fringe Festival dance drama, choreographed by the outstanding choreographers Alvin Collantes and Hayley Paone, had me sitting still for the entire fifty-five minutes! The only time I did move from my cozy seat at the cool Factory Theatre was right at the end during the well deserved standing ovation.
It takes a lot of commitment in putting together a one-person show where an actor plays multiple characters, sings and dances. This is the commitment Donna Greenberg took in her Toronto Fringe show Burnt …and toasted! but unfortunately there were many pieces missing and it didn’t quite work for me.
The musical show started with Greenberg doing a song and dance number which was a nice way to open the show. But she lost me once she started her dialogue that began with ‘Once upon a time…’. Greenberg takes us back into her past by walking back and forth across the stage trying to take on the different characters.
