Compositions opened last night as part of the final weekend of Luminato. Based on the blurb in the program I had no idea what to expect. Based on the small audience neither did a lot of other people. It’s a shame because Rafael Benatar is delightful. So is his show.
If you haven’t ever seen a Ronnie Burkett puppet show (marionette show?) this is your chance. His new show, The Daisy Theatre, opened on Friday evening as part of the Luminato Festival and is running for the full two weeks of Luminato.
The Daisy Theatre is “inspired by the illegal underground “daisy” puppet shows of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. And it’s not really new, Burkett developed the idea in Calgary 20 years ago. This is a new incarnation, a blend of music hall, cabaret, political commentary, audience participation and improvisation. Lots of improvisation.
Continue reading Review: The Daisy Theatre (Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes, Luminato)
This is NTOW’s third Script Tease Project, the first in association with Soulpepper. NTOW is Naomi Sniekus and Matt Baram, both talented actors and stellar improvisers. They ask playwrights (seven this year) to write two pages of a script. Each performance is a different playwright. Sniekus and Baram see the script for the first time at the beginning of the show. They do a cold reading of the two pages and improvise the rest of the one hour play. Last night the playwright was Judith Thompson.
Today is the final day of the SoulO Theatre Festival so you still have time to attend a panel or a workshop and two solo shows. There were three shows last night. I saw Diane Johnstone in Desperate Church Wives.
I love solo shows, one person on the stage telling a story. It seems to me that it’s such an act of bravery. The actor is often the writer and playing more than one character with very few props and no costume changes.
Continue reading Review: Desperate Church Wives (SoulO Theatre Festival)
The inaugural SoulO Theatre Festival opened last night with Chris Gibbs’ one person show Antoine Feval – the story of Victorian London’s most overlooked detective.
Right off the top I have to say that I love Chris Gibbs. He’s a very funny man with impeccable timing and an impressive ability to ad lib with a straight face. Even though Antoine Feval is a play with a script no two performances are the same as Gibbs reacts to his surroundings. Continue reading Review: Chris Gibbs in Antoine Feval (SoulO Theatre Festival)