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/
Boldly going where no improv has gone before, Final Frontier is playing at Toronto’s Comedy Bar
You don’t have to be intimately familiar with the Star Trek universe (and all of those spin-offs and reboots) to appreciate Bad Dog Theatre Company’s spoof of the franchise. Final Frontier, playing at the Comedy Bar as part of Bad Dog’s Epic Wednesday series, is funny on its own terms, but there is an added layer of hilarity for those who have spent countless hours dreaming of Starfleet Academy.
Epic Wednesdays consist of a monthly rotation of four improvised comedy shows that spoof such nerdy pursuits as role-playing and video games. Final Frontier opened last night to an enthusiastic crowd. From the staged recreation of Star Trek’s opening credit sequence to the ridiculous finale, the performers never missed a beat. Continue reading Review: Final Frontier (Bad Dog Theatre Company)→
The Children’s Hour explores the destructive results of a lie at the Toronto Centre for the Arts
I am always of two minds when I am about to see one of my favourite plays, and so it was that I went into Encore Entertainment’s production of The Children’s Hour (playing at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, Studio Theatre) half-ecstatic and half-terrified. Will they get it right? Will my guest be equally enamoured of it, or will they look at me in that funny way, wondering why I’ve subjected them to such rubbish?
Before I delve into the thick of it, let me first say this: I love Lillian Hellman’s play wholeheartedly. It chronicles the tragic aftermath of lie told in spite, and explores the consequences of such unpleasant human characteristics as selfishness, resentment, and self-righteousness. Continue reading Review: The Children’s Hour (Encore Entertainment)→
The Lover is a provocative tale of sex and domesticity, playing at Toronto’s Sterling Studio Theatre
Up until now, I had never seen or read a Harold Pinter play. I was vaguely aware of, and intrigued by, his reputation as a dramatist, specifically his penchant for sinister comedies. So it was with some excitement that I made my way out to the Sterling Studio Theatre to see their production of The Lover.
I love the Sterling Studio. It’s an intimate venue which seats, depending on how those seats are arranged, only about thirty to fifty people. That intimacy allows directors to take full advantage of theatre’s unique strengths and Brett Haynes does just that. He introduces us to the characters and their world with what I like to call a soft opening: the actors are on set and in character while the audience takes their seats. Also, the lighting for this production is entirely practical (actual lamps that the actors manipulate instead of overhead stage lighting).
A couple find a body on the shore in Flesh and Other Fragments of Love playing at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre
Flesh and Other Fragments of Love, which opened at the Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, is truly compelling. This is the English-language premiere of Evelyne de la Chenelière’s play, which was inspired by Marie Cardinal’s novel Une vie pour deux, and translated by Linda Gaboriau.
