Always a theatre lover Sam realized in middle age that there's more to Toronto theatre than just mainstream and is now in love with one person shows, adores festivals, and quirky venues make her day.
After Wrestling explores love, death, and mental illness, at the Factory Theatre in Toronto
On Thursday evening I saw the world premier of After Wrestling at Factory Theatre. It’s billed as “a slacker-comedy turned suicide mystery” and when I first read that I thought ‘whatever that means’. Turns out that it’s as good a description as any.
It didn’t mention the emotional roller coaster ride my friend Marg and I experienced though. The play can turn on a dime. So many times I’d be laughing and then, literally in my next breath, be crying. And vice versa. Playwrights Bryce Hodgson and Charlie Kerr have written a play that pulled me in and had me caring about the characters from almost the first minutes of the piece. It took Marg longer, about 15 minutes. Continue reading Review: After Wrestling (Blood Pact Theatre with the support of Storefront Theatre in association with Factory Theatre)→
Tony-winning play The Humans takes to the Toronto stage!
Stephen Karam’s Tony award winning play, The Humans, opened at the Bluma Appel Theatre on Thursday evening. It’s a comedy/drama, funnier earlier on and more dramatic later, about a family Thanksgiving dinner that unfolds in real time, at just under two hours.
We’ve probably all experienced special occasion family dinners like this. Mom, Dad, Grandma (in this case Momo), and the adult kids get together. There’s joking and teasing and bickering and unsolicited advice and sometimes real tension. People talk over each other, little groups form, break apart, and form new groups; people laugh, sometimes they yell, sometimes they cry. They did in my family. And that’s what my friend Patricia and I loved about The Humans; they seemed like a real family. Continue reading Review: The Humans (Canadian Stage and Citadel Theatre)→
Jewel, a one-woman play about the aftermath of the Ocean Ranger disaster opens in Toronto
Shotgun Juliet’s production of Jewel opened on Wednesday at Red Sandcastle Theatre. It’s a perfect venue; small and intimate, the audience could reach out and touch the actors – if that wasn’t an incredibly inappropriate thing to do.
Jewel is an intimate, one woman play written by Joan MacLeod. It looks at the aftermath of the Ocean Ranger disaster through the eyes of the young widow of one of the 84 men killed when it sank on February 15, 1982. It was written in 1987 when it wasn’t as common as it is now to look at disasters through the eyes of the survivors. It’s poignant without being maudlin. I really liked everything about it. Continue reading Review: Jewel (Shotgun Juliet)→
Alumnae Theatre in Toronto celebrates 100 years of female-run theatre with Omission
Friday wasn’t exactly 100 years since Alumnae Theatre presented their first play in Toronto; it was 99 years and 25 days. Close enough. Alumnae is the longest running female-run theatre company in North America — definitely cause for a celebration. And celebrate they did with balloons, cupcakes, and a special cocktail before the world premier of Omission by Alice Abracen.
I love theatre that entertains me and makes me think without ever feeling like I’m being beaten over the head. It can be difficult to raise moral questions and teach lessons about morality without becoming didactic. Abracen does it with ease; she’s a playwright to watch. The play is wonderful — compelling plot, interesting characters, and great character development. I love that her dialogue includes the little throwaway lines and quips that are part of everyday conversation. Anne Harper directs an impressive cast with ease. Continue reading Review: Omission (Alumnae Theatre)→
After Wrestling explores love, death, and mental illness, at the Factory Theatre in Toronto
Jewel, a one-woman play about the aftermath of the Ocean Ranger disaster opens in Toronto
Alumnae Theatre in Toronto celebrates 100 years of female-run theatre with Omission
Crow’s Theatre presents True Crime on tour in Toronto until January 20, 2018