Apart from his (pathological?) obsession with airplane disasters, Istvan is a filmmaker and film enthusiast, but began his creative adventures in theatre. Starting out as an actor, he soon discovered a preference for life behind-the-scenes. He has experience in lighting design, stage management and production management, but his passion is writing and directing. With several short films and an indie feature under his belt, film has been his focus in recent years, but theatre has been calling him back. You see more of his critical writing at his film reflection blog: http://captiveviscera.wordpress.com/
Sage Tyrtle performs her one-woman show Boxes Buried Deep at Toronto’s Videofag
Boxes Buried Deep is Sage Tyrtle’s one-woman show: a real life fairy tale about how to discover and embrace your inner “crazy.” Her performance style is conversational and so the intimate Videofag venue is a great place to experience her. The audience is small enough, close enough, that she could put her arm around you as she weaves her tale. In fact, it felt as if her arm was around me the whole time. Continue reading Review: Boxes Buried Deep (Convection Productions)→
Red One Theatre Collective brings The Skriker to fantastical life at the Storefront Theatre in Toronto
If you go down to the Storefront this week (or next), you’re in for a big surprise. If you go down to the theatre this week, you’d better go in disguise! For every creature that ever there was has gathered there for certain because… Red One Theatre Collective has brought to life—vibrant, haunting life!—Caryl Churchill’s fantastical play The Skriker.
My date and I were blown away by this production. “I think that was the best thing I’ve ever seen!” she told me as we walked away from the theatre, our eyes sparkling. I nodded enthusiastically, my heart still pounding in my chest, my mind reeling. Continue reading Review: The Skriker (Red One Theatre Collective/Theatre Brouhaha)→
Unit 102 Actors Company’s Lobby Hero strikes the perfect balance at The Theatre Machine in Toronto
Lobby Hero is the first show put on by Unit 102 Actors Company in the newly re-branded venue, The Theatre Machine. Hot on the heels of their intense production of American Buffalo comes this very funny and occasionally poignant tale of a laid back security guard who just wants to “do the right thing.”
That particular phrasing sounds bland and painfully conventional. It conjures up the sort of slacker-hero worship that pops up frequently in American comedies. That is, a twenty-something, straight,white dude who just doesn’t quite have his act together, whose struggles will (ostensibly) inspire himself and others! Continue reading Review: Lobby Hero (Unit 102 Actors Company)→
The Mountaintop fictionally recalls Martin Luther King Jr’s final night, playing at Toronto’s Aki Studio Theatre
Settling in at Daniels Spectrum, Aki Studio Theatre for Obsidian Theatre’s production of The Mountaintop, I found myself completely whisked away by the set and pre-show soundscape. Late sixties pop tunes play and rain outside a window throws eerie patterns on the wall of a darkened and dismal motel room. Segments of Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech weave in and out. It is both comforting and ominous, this opening atmosphere crafted by Judith Bowden (set), Kevin Lamotte (lighting) and Freddy Gabrsek (sound). Continue reading Review: The Mountaintop (Obsidian Theatre/Shaw Festval)→
A Tender Thing explores Romeo and Juliet as an elderly couple, on stage at the Young Centre in Toronto
Even if you’ve never seen or read it, you’re most likely familiar with the story of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s tragic tale of young lovers doomed by a family quarrel is iconic and references to it pervade our culture. What if, by some fortunate happenstance, Romeo and Juliet had not succumbed to their fate so early? What if they had grown old together? This is the premise of Ben Power’s A Tender Thing, currently playing at Soulpepper. Continue reading Review: A Tender Thing (Soulpepper)→
