Candid love letters explore the distance in correspondence in Cher Menteur/Dear Liar at Toronto’s Berkeley Theatre

In Cher Menteur/Dear Liar, the Théâtre français explores the–often very convoluted–romance between the famous George Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell, a leading actress at the turn of the 20th Century. Their relationship was turbulent, swinging from infatuation to revulsion and back again. Historians believe that, while it may have been the greatest romance in both of their lives, the ties between them remained unconsummated. Both married other people, and although the two exchanged ideas and took inspiration from one another, in smaller or greater ways, throughout their lives, their only notable joint project was Shaw’s Pygmalion.

Cher Menteur/Dear Liar (presented in French, with English surtitles) explores this relationship through their correspondence, itself a point of considerable tension between the pair. Fortunately, both Shaw and Campbell were witty fiends, and the playfulness inherent in these letters–even when things are on the rocks–shines through, more than a century later.

Continue reading Review: Cher Menteur/Dear Liar (Théâtre français de Toronto) →

Major flooding has left Toronto’s Storefront Theatre in shambles, please donate and help if you can

Mooney on Theatre received with tremendous sorrow the news that one of our favourite venues–the Storefront Theatre–has been flooded. The auditorium itself has survived, but due to a popped water main, their offices, technical storage, computer equipment and everything else is now under 7 feet of water, mud and silt.

The Storefront (and its resident company, Red One) has consistently been one of the most outstanding institutions in the Toronto theatre scene: every show (13 a year–which is an incredible number, even before factoring in festivals, one-nighters, etc.) which passes through their doors seems to be a success, and the venue itself is a particular gift to our community.

If you can spare a few dollars, a fund has been established in support of rebuilding. But even if you can’t, we urge you–once it re-opens–to discover the Storefront, to enjoy its peculiar and unique delights, and to join us in cheering its return.

Below the jump, the press release concerning this situation.

Continue reading The Flooding of the Shrew →

Redone brings slapstick comedy and the Yukon to SHREW playing at Toronto’s Storefront Theatre

Directors, writers and dramaturges have spent an awful lot of the last 400 years trying to fix The Taming of the Shrew. We’ve tried all-female casts, we’ve tried rewriting sections of the script, we’ve tried pumping it full of goopy sarcasm, we’ve even put Elizabeth I in a leading role, all in the hopes of banishing the distressing way it treats women.

With this in mind, you have no idea how pleasing it is that this new production, by the Red One Theatre Collective (billing themselves as Redone Theatre), has found so simple a solution: do it straight, but do it silly. Their SHREW (playing the Storefront Theatre, 955 Bloor West) sticks very closely to the original text, but is packed with vaudeville, slapstick, sarcasm, raunch, physical comedy, infectious joy, and good vibes.

The cure for all that ails this play, as it turns out, is a puppet show, three Germans in union suits, and a pair of assless chaps. Who knew?

Continue reading Review: SHREW (Red One / Redone) →