S. Bear Bergman has great faith in the power of theatre to make change, and has been putting his money where his mouth is on that one for some time. A writer, performer, and lecturer, Bear works full time as an artist and cultural worker and loves to see as much live performance as possible – making this a fantastic gig for him.
A racy morality play without musical interludes graces the stage at Toronto’s Young Centre for the Performing Arts
Spring Awakening is a great choice for a collegiate theatre program production; most of the young people thinking mostly about success at school, sex, and growing up get to play… young people thinking mostly about success at school, sex, and growing up. For sure the text requires them to dig in a little, but it’s typically forgiving.
A charming and kind Circus of Amazing Fleas from Toronto’s Theatre Direct
First, readers will be grateful to know that the charming Buster Canfield has not, as actual flea circus ringmasters sometimes would, harnessed the fleas in fine metal wire collars to wear for the rest of their lives. I feel relatively confident that Theatre Direct wouldn’t permit it; they don’t seem the type. Nor indeed are there any fleas in his act at all, as there typically aren’t in the case of modern flea circuses – instead, there are magnetics, elastics, sleight-of-hand, patter and pure showmanship.
The form as it exists today is an opportunity for a performer to show any number of performance talents, including comedy for certain, and flea circus is having a bit of a resurgence along with storytelling and knitting, other older pastimes and entertainments that still have a lot of good times left in them.
Scooby-Doo Live is a musical mystery at Toronto’s Sony Centre
“Scooby Doo Live!“, I told my son’s teacher, when she asked what show we were leaving early to see “At the Sony Centre.” She cocked her head quizically to the side and asked “How…do they fill up a show with that?” I promised to let her know.
Bent explores the persecution of homosexuals during the Nazi era, at Toronto’s Hart House Theatre
I knew as soon as I saw the lighting fixtures. Not the regular instruments, but the lights onstage used to illuminate the small moments of the show. Three of them stood out from each of the rough beam columns that made up a large portion of the set, and they looked just like showerheads, and so I knew. Knew that someone at Hart House Theatre (Dominic Manca, the set and lighting designer) had done their research into Nazi death camps, and knew that the show was going to hang right in the sweet spot where Bent should hang – right on the rising edge of misery and hope.
Fred Penner brings The Cat Came Back to the stage at Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre
When we slip into our seats four minutes after curtain at the Young People’s Theatre due to an unforeseen travel glitch, the last chords of Fred Penner’sThe Cat Came Back were fading away. My small companion said “We missed it…” somewhat forlornly, as he’d been eagerly anticipating the title song. “They’ll play it again,” I said, confidently. He nodded and settled in, excited to have his first, live Fred Penner experience.
Unfortunately, the settling in was somewhat short lived.
