Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre Company presents Eric Peterson and John Gray in a revival of their landmark Canadian play, Billy Bishop Goes to War at The Young Centre for the Performing Arts through August 4, 2011.

Billy Bishop Goes to War is an iconic Canadian play. First written and performed by Eric Peterson and John Gray in 1978, the show has toured extensively across Canada, performed at the Edinburgh Festival and has enjoyed runs in London’s West End and on Broadway. In fact, it’s one of only four Canadian shows to have played on a Broadway stage and remains one of the most-produced Canadian plays of all time.

Throughout the years Eric Peterson and John Gray have repeatedly re-visited Billy Bishop Goes to War and have updated the play along the way. The two performers are now sixty-two years old; the same age Bishop was when he died. This current version of the play features an aging Billy Bishop at home in his pajamas reminiscing about his past glories from afar. Continue reading Review: Billy Bishop Goes to War (Soulpepper) →

By Wayne Leung

Toronto’s Factory Theatre presents a revival of the 2001 hit Zadie’s Shoes by Adam Pettle. Starring an all-new cast, this production is co-directed by Adam Pettle and his brother Jordan Pettle.

In the decade since Factory Theatre first produced Adam Pettle’s play about compulsive behavior, Zadie’s Shoes, it has become one of the most prolific contemporary Canadian plays.

Following the original Factory Theatre run the Mirvishs picked up Zadie’s Shoes for a commercial run at the Winter Garden Theatre and, in the years since, theatre companies across Canada and around the world have produced Pettle’s compelling script.

Continue reading Review: Zadie’s Shoes (Factory Theatre) →

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in association with The National Arts Centre presents the return Toronto engagement of Waawaate Fobister’s poetic, inspiring and timely play, Agokwe.

In the past year the issues around bullying and gay teen suicide have come to a head in the mainstream media and great strides have been made in raising the profile of the issues of the GLBT community.

However, what’s still often missing from the conversation between the mainstream gay culture and the media are the voices of queer people of colour. The issues and experiences of the “gay community” are, more often than not, presented as a unified monolith and since the mainstream gay culture is predominantly a White culture, it rarely acknowledges the greater diversity within the community. Continue reading Review: Agokwe (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and The National Arts Centre) →

By Wayne Leung

Toronto’s fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company presents Brown Balls, Byron Abalos’ irreverent play examining Asian male stereotypes, from May 3 to May 15, at the Factory Studio Theatre.

Brown Balls is an edgy, satirical play that tackles Asian male stereotypes. Being an Asian-American male myself (technically, I’m Canadian but I’m going to use “American” in the broader sense to mean North American), I’m something of an expert on Asian male stereotypes in Western culture.

I’m all too aware of the general (mis-) perceptions of Asian males among Westerners: that we are short, scrawny, effete, bookish, timid, subordinate, asexual, small-dicked, mamma’s boys.  For the record, I’m none of the above.

Brown Balls is a long-overdue cri de coeur for the Asian-American male.  It explodes the numerous stereotypes and misperceptions and exposes them for what they are: ignorance.

Continue reading Review: Brown Balls (fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company) →

Canadian Stage presents the Canadian premiere of Scottish playwright David Greig’s The cosmonaut’s last message to the woman he once loved in the former Soviet Union from April 16 to May 14, 2011 at the Bluma Appel Theatre

The Canadian Stage premiere of The cosmonaut’s last message to the woman he once loved in the former Soviet Union seemed appropriately timed to coincide with the recent 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight, made by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

Continue reading Review: The cosmonaut’s last message to the woman he once loved in the former Soviet Union (Canadian Stage) →