WhyNot Theatre’s RISER Project (#notafestival) gives a boost to four deserving productions a year, and every year’s class is strong. 2019 brings us Samson Brown with 11:11, his first solo effort, under the directional and dramaturgical eye of hometown genius d’bi young anitafrika. Brown, whose Gillette commercial dropped just a couple days before the show opened, is having a big moment as he tends his transgender body and spirit in both media. Continue reading Review: 11:11 (AVO Collective/RISER Project) →

Robert Lepage brings 887 back to Toronto audiences at Canadian Stage

Canadian arts eminence Robert Lepage, notable as a director and designer for decades, has been making new narrative work the last few years. This includes the recent 887, a memory play currently running at Canadian Stage, tracing an early part of Lepage’s history with his family, childhood home, class, and relationship to the FLQ and the Quebec separatists movement.

Continue reading Review: 887 (Canadian Stage/Ex Machina) →

Makambe K. Simamba’s gripping play, inspired by Trayvon Martin’s story, is onstage in Toronto

Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers, written and performed by Makambe K. Simamba, is the story of Trayvon Martin’s first hours in the afterlife, and it is utterly gripping and rendered with great tenderness and bravery. It’s also surprising, which was unexpected with such a well-publicized story. Simamba had her work cut out for her trying to make theatre that didn’t feel like a simple rehearsal of the brutal facts. But Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers is so, so much more.

Continue reading Review: Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers (b current) →

Canadian Stage presents a wordless, slapstick comedy show from France in Toronto

What, you might be wondering, might a wordless, slapstick, burlesque, Francophone show – such as Bigre – be like? I went to Canadian Stage to discover, and found the answer to be: a little lewd, a little rude, and ultimately pleasing, if you come ready to laugh.

Continue reading Review: Bigre (Canadian Stage/Théâtre Français Toronto →

Hot Brown Honey is a dazzling socially driven cabaret, a “brilliant spectacle” on stage in Toronto

Near the beginning of Hot Brown Honey, an Australian export co-produced by Why Not Theatre and Native Earth Performing Arts and presented to lucky Toronto audiences by TO Live, Queen Bee Busty Beats exclaims from the hive-top “Fighting the power never tasted so sweet!” They are unimpeachably correct, so please stand by for several paragraphs of effusive, lavish praise for this spectacular piece of work.

Continue reading Review: Hot Brown Honey (Why Not Theatre/Native Earth Performing Arts) →