Pinocchio @ Young People's Theatre

I don’t get to see TYA as much as I’d like to these days, now that I’m no longer teaching, and my daughter is no longer in the target audience. I had almost forgotten how magical these shows can be.

Sheila McCarthy’s production is pure joy; the new adaptation by Neil Bartram is a largely smart and funny musical; there are a few songs/scenes that I personally think could face the chopping block…but on the whole it is quite strong. The show moves at a formidable pace , and kept the room full of youngsters on a Saturday afternoon engaged. It is always a good sign to me when a young audience vocalize their engagement in a script, responding out loud to the things happening on stage — which happened in this show. Particularly fun were the conniving Fox and Cat, played beautifully by Joel Cumber and Arinea Hermans.

Julie Tomaino’s choreography deserves a special shout-out — it was high energy, and created beautiful movement to enliven the many locales that the story is told from.

The sets and costumes were the real stars here. Joanna Yu’s whimsical design had many moments of pure awe — from early scenes carving Pinocchio, to Pinocchio’s nose, to later scenes to create water and the inside of the whale. You could feel the sense of wonder that this inspired in the young audience (and honestly, in me too).

Finally, the Saturday performance I attended included a short talkback from the cast, which included them asking questions of the audience — a great way to begin a talkback and help engage the young audience who had just sat so quiet and engaged for 75 minutes!

I definitely recommend taking the young people in your life to see this magical show.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel @ RMTC Winnipeg

I was completely privileged to get a sneak peek of this show in their previews, thanks to the generosity of director Sarah Garton Stanley. I feel truly fortunate to have been able to see it, as the company as a whole, and in particular Laura Olafson and Catherine Wreford, share in this production some of the most beautifully subtle work I have seen in a long time.

The story centres around Alison in three stages of her life, and her own understanding of her sexuality, her childhood, and her relationship with her father. This isn’t your typical musical fare, delving into the darkness of her father’s repressed sexuality, while she is grappling with her own feelings and learning how to express them. Laura Olafson plays Alison’s mom, and is heartbreaking as she fights to keep her children happy and family together. And Wreford is undeniable in her song Telephone Wire, where she wrestles with trying to talk to her father about her sexuality and his response.

Director Sarah Garton Stanley steers an excellent pace, manipulating the twists and turns in the story to full emotional effect for the audience, the highs and lows working in perfect balance to one another. There is a sense of breath throughout the production, yet it surges forward at an urgent pace. This is complemented by Hugh Conacher’s stunning lighting design.

I’m told the rest of the run is sold out, and this cast and crew so deserve that. I’m thrilled to see Winnipeg audiences embracing such a beautiful and challenging piece of theatre.

Sex and Sexability Cabaret - Sick & Twisted Theatre

I had the joy of happening to be visiting Winnipeg when Sick + Twisted were hosting their most recent cabaret installment, something I’ve sadly missed in previous iterations. The evening combines short works of a variety of styles, from stand up to mime to musical theatre, all organized around a theme. This time, it was Sex & Sexability, highlighting stories about interactions with, discoveries of, and challenges with sexuality.

Standouts for me were Adam Schwartz with his wonderfully dry humoured standup about dating with autism, and the hilarious Ophira Calof with her songs about love (including it happening for her EMT and Nurse, over her head - Literally). Calof was an absolute delight, one of those performers who you know from their first moment on stage will be astounding — and she did not disappoint. I also really enjoyed Andrea von WIchert’s monologue which came toward the end of the evening, focusing on the challenges of maintaining a relationship when one has mental illness and little interest in sex. The selection of pieces, and smooth transitions between scenes, along with seeing actors crop up in one another’s pieces, really helped provide a cohesive feel to the cabaret as well, a quality this style of event can lack.

Sick + Twisted are dedicated to showcasing the work of performers and writers with disabilities, and to creating spaces that are safe and welcoming for performers and audience members alike. In this instance, it included ASL interpretation for every scene, as well as audio description. Offering these sorts of supports is unfortunately rare in Canada, so it was refreshing and exciting to see them offered.

I definitely recommend checking out the next Sick + Twisted cabaret - and hopefully a show, too!

Ivanov - Theatre Of Nations @ Barbican

Timofey Kulyabin is renowned for his use of sound and silence, so the opportunity to see his interpretation of Chekhov was a promising one. The cavernous Barbican was willed with life from the start of the play, even in the most still, quiet, moments. Kulyabin’s Ivanov is positioned in a more modern Russia, with suits and party dresses, but the same old familial obligations. The characters sparkled and overlapped one another, and were truly funny. It is joyful to see Chekhov performed with true gleeful fun, as this high makes the sad, still, lonely moments all the lower.

What was interesting is that the set changes were glacial. At first, I didn’t know why. They seemed to suck the energy out of the production, however the next scene would burst out, filled with energy anew. This sat with me for some time; it felt clunky and almost amateurish, but as I continued to reflect (for weeks! I saw this Oct 12!) it began to be clear to me that this was intentional. Slow, clearly performative, demonstrating the construction of Ivanov’s life, his world, and the precariousness of that construction.

It is also thrilling to see theatre performed for its audience; the vast majority of this audience were from the Russian community around London. Their reactions to moments in the play were certainly different; the personal touches, the jokes about how families work (slippers for all visitors, breaking into song…) were wonderful and there for the Russian audience and had echoes of my own upbringing in a Ukrainian family, far away in Canada. At the end, the audience cheered voraciously - there were about 8 curtain calls, and as they escalated, audience members brought forward flowers for the performers…part of a clear ritual.

Out of Order by Forced Entertainment @ Southbank Centre

As a follower of Forced Entertainment’s work through video streams and available online recordings, I was thrilled to learn that my time in London would overlap their short run of Out of Order at Southbank Centre. 

Chairs begin downstage in a line, appearing orderly, while a table sits upstage. The performance space is elevated several feet above the actual stage, with caverns around on all sides. This lasts approximately 30 seconds, before the 6 performers (3 men, 3 women, all wearing identical plaid suits, white shirts, and clown face) enter, and move them. From here, there is incessant movement; while the movement peaks and valleys, even the moments of rest and stillness are filled with the memory of movement. 

What follows is an ongoing, highly choreographed yet impulsive and appearing improvised set of games; the actors fight and chase, they play with balloons, and chairs. They lead and follow, repeat and repeat, even when they are visibly questioning the action. At times certain characters have the strength to resist - to sit outside and comment. But this is fleeting, and they are shortly again sucked into following. 

There are many layers, and none. Forced regularly do not impose a specific feeling or intention for how a piece should affect, but rather work in layered ideas, providing thoughts into the space, but no real answers, demanding the audience engage and fill in the blanks. At times we are overwhelmed with where to look, or at others pulled into the individual actions of one actor or another, and at yet others sitting, in silence, with our own thoughts. The simultaneous danger and inevitability of following along loomed loud for me in watching this work. 

This is Forced’s first piece without words. It is not silent, however; two songs underscore various aspects (again, in repetition), and the rhythm of the balloons, or horns, or boots, or chairs, or even actors breathing, make a compelling score. 

As a lovely bonus, the artistic director (Tim Etchells) and the 6 members of the company, shared their thoughts and answered questions in a 30+ minute Q&A following the show. It was exciting to hear some of my own interpretations of their work and ideas for how to engage audiences echoed in their approaches and intent. I’ve said this for years, but again…if you have the chance to see Forced Entertainment’s work in any capacity, do. 

Gross Domestic Product - Banksy in Croydon

Banksy’s public installation stunts are globally publicized events, and relatively rare. So when I learned that I would be in London when his latest was occurring in Croydon, I planned a day around it. Croydon is not a London tourist destination; it is far removed from the museums and theatres and pageantry of Westminster and the West End, and much more closely aligned to the real lives of real Londoners. Taking over a shop window on an otherwise unassuming corner in Croydon, Banksy’s latest work is ever political. Opposite the street market, with vendors selling trays of fruit for a pound, and shops of varying history. . . next to an enormous Primark and Waitrose and Slug and Lettuce poshy pub and a hip new Box Mall, but also empty storefronts and pound shops. The 5 windows of work display a variety of items that will actually be for sale — from empty paint cans and spray painted televisions, to welcome mats embroidered from the fabric of life jackets washed up on shores after boats of refugees met an untimely and tragic death. Disco balls made into police riot helmets. Stuffed animals lambasted or suffocated, and then mounted like hunting trophies. Each item is accompanied by a write up, as they would be in a gallery or online shop, sardonically describing the item and its intended value for the purchaser. Men dressed in beige trench coats and flat caps stand around the area, providing the attendee — many of whom didn’t look like they had been to Croydon or South London before — an image of safety and security, calling to mind images of friendly doormen at posh Regent or Oxford street department stores. People crowded around the windows, snapping photos, largely unaware of the street around them. 

The location was not chosen by accident. Framing this conspicuous relationship to consumerism in the context of gentrification underscores Banksy’s point. Several comments speak to the stealing of ideas, the absence of originality. Banksy has publicly stated that the installation is in response to a card company attempting to infringe on his ownership of the images and work, through exploitation of a loophope in copyright law. It may be this, but it also serves a larger purpose; to remind us that we are all, daily, a part of the capitalist system which not only enables this, but encourages consumption and comfort at the expense of others. 

[blank] by Alice Birch @ Donmar Warehouse

Alice Birch’s new play, [blank] focuses in on the experiences of women in the justice system, encountering it from a variety of angles. We see women with addiction issues, women facing abuse, children in challenging parental situations, women who have ruptured family relationship. We see women guards and officers, psychologists. Young children. Adult children.

The cast play multiple roles, and the stage becomes multiple spaces. What is stunning is how little the actors change scene to scene, all wearing dark trousers, a coloured top, and white trainers. While they change yet stay the same, the space is increasingly messy, bearing the remnants of what came before, but also deconstructed. As the space deconstructs, the use of video increases, capturing the images of these women and their trauma in time.

Evocative of Churchill’s Top Girls dinner party, there is a scene in the middle of the play where the actors are at a dinner party - kind, open, middle class, with posh dishes, and lots of wine. The party is all long-time friends except one, a new girlfriend, whose presence sparks discussion of misbehaved pasts, which quickly seep into the current time. Wine is consumed, then drugs, and suddenly these women who have introduced themselves as being on the professional side of the justice system are offending themselves. This scene’s most chilling moment is when the young daughter comes in, asks for water, and wine is poured out of a wine glass to give to her, cocaine still on the table. The stark differences of experience based on the class of these women versus the others is haunting. Birch demands we, the comfortable theatre audience, confront our comforts and lack of true efforts to help others.

As always, Birch’s use of language is exceptional - words are weapons from her pen, and in the mouths of these actors.

The only oddity, for me, was a break into song toward the middle - while the lyrics made sense, the choices of movements and performance style in this moment felt stilted and half-baked. For me, it was jolting, but not as jolting as I think it was intended to be.

Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. by Caryl Churchill @ Royal Court

Presented in a single evening, Churchill’s new quartet of plays at the Royal Court dig into the relationship between the stories we tell ourselves, and contemporary news. It is easy to simply view the plays as about stories alone - however this is to do a disservice to Churchill’s omnipresent political commentary pulsing through any of her work.

Glass is about a teen girl who is made of glass; she sits atop the mantlepiece amongst the other beautiful things, to protect her from the harshness of other youth. Her emotions are visible to others, and despite her family’s efforts to protect her, she is vulnerable once she connects with someone, who is also troubled. Perhaps it is because I am the mother of a teen, but this piece shouted for me about the dangers of trying too hard to protect our children from the realities of the world.

Kill is a classic Churchillian dark monologue. Told from the point of view of a Greek god who recounts the story of a family who murder and fight amongst themselves across generations, simultaneously recalling the founding stories of Western civilization rooted in violence, and the impact of generational trauma. He is joined on stage by a child who draws, and occasionally repeats his words; this simple inclusion underscores the relationship between how children learn to see the world and the stories they take in both intentionally and unintentionally.

Bluebeard begins with friends at a dinner party, gossiping about a mutual friend who has been discovered to have committed some crimes. These crimes are macabre in nature, and the discussion moves from the point where they distance themselves from this friend, to beginning to explain his behaviour, to where they have managed to justify it. In the post #MeToo moment, the play forces the audience to reckon with the moral gymnastics many people do in order to continue to be friends with someone or to enjoy their art.

Finally, Imp is the longest, and initially the most naturalistic of the four plays; two older cousins who live together entertain a niece and a young friend. The conversations are absurd in the way that most awkward extended family conversations can be; until it is revealed that the woman, Dot, believes to have an imp who does wishes captured in a bottle. Throughout the play the characters opinions of one another and of the related relationships oscillate, as they tell themselves stories to help understand their world. The introduction of the imp merely amplifies the focus on the fact that often we need stories, however fantastical, to get by.

The cast are outstanding, and director James MacDonald cleverly manages the tempo of the scripts perfectly - not only within themselves, but across the evening. The addition of circus performers between the first and second, and second and third plays proved ingenious - a necessary yet haunting sorbet which visually represented these same mental and moral gymnastics we all perform to keep on.

Now Is The Time To Say Nothing by Caroline Williams & Reem Karrsli @ Battersea Arts

We all sit in individual chairs, facing away from one another headphones on, staring at televisions. The room is dark and comfortable. Silence hugs us.

The TV tells us what to do; it filters images for us, gives us the headlines, and then pushes us beyond them. Who are the individuals affected? How are they affected? What is it like to live in a war zone, and then to choose to leave? What about those you leave behind?

It is easy for us to put war in a bucket, far away, distant. But when we are faced with the real humans impacted by it, you can’t turn away.

As the play continues, the TV guides us further, providing instruction, breaking us out of our individual nests and demanding connection. Acknowledging that sometimes we don’t have a choice, while still making the audience feel safe.

The construction of this experience is simple, but its impact lasting and powerful. See this if you can.

The Unnatural and Accidental Women by Marie Clements @ National Arts Centre (Ottawa)

It has taken me a long time to write about this show. To form cohesive thoughts about the experience, the work, the script in this time. The ensemble’s work was outstanding, each character living and breathing in their own space and time, and yet working as such a perfect unit, almost in secret. Every element of design drove the focus of the audience perfectly, whether the sound, or set, or costume. This is deeply challenging work.

There were times where an actor took time to do something, or cross the space, or even speak, where I for a moment felt I wanted them to hurry up. This was my impatient self, the self who processes too quickly and dismisses too easily. The moments needed the time, they deserved the time - and they were more than earned.

There were moments where dance and song gave power to the women, unity in their voices brought strength.

I cried.

I don’t know the last time I wept in the theatre. It might never have happened. I wept in frustration and sadness and anger at the ongoing issue of women going missing or being murdered. I wept thinking that the enormous list of women that was read aloud, ticker tape style across the stage, was from the 1980s. Because this list has only grown and grown and nothing seems to fix it.

I cannot imagine a better play or production to open the inaugural season of the National Indigenous Theatre in Canada. I am saddened that the house wasn’t full, that the run wasn’t longer. Everyone needs to see this play.

Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge @ Wyndham's Theatre via NT Live

I caught the NT Live airing of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s return to the West End with Fleabag, a run she has declared will be her last of the play, which has dominated since its 2013 debut. Unlike the TV series of the same name (and subject), the stage play is told only by her, in direct address, whilst sitting on a tall chair. From this perch, she contorts and cajoles, taking on the personas and judgements of people in her life, as she relays her messy and complicated life to her listener.

The nuance in the work is astounding. The tiniest gesture, tilt of the head, appears effortless and fresh and yet is so highly choreographed. Waller-Bridge is an engaging performer, able to hold her audience with the raise of an eyebrow. The physical work is surprising in its subtlety - she appears to not move at all and then suddenly be completely contorted and hanging off the chair, or standing, or completely embodying her sister or rat face or any of the amazing characters she brings to life.

And the sound. THE SOUND. Some of the most delicately curated, perfectly timed I have heard, ever.

What was interesting, attending this in NT live after her years of tours, and after the wild success of the TV show on BBC and subsequently Prime, that it felt absent of too much surprise (aside from the scenes that differ from the TV show). The audience were there to revel rather than to learn. While this was fun, I would love to enjoy it in a room where everyone, myself included, hasn’t an inkling of the depths of this woman’s soul.

Brian Jungen Friendship Centre @ AGO

I was fortunate to catch this exhibition in its final days, and am sad I didn’t make it sooner…only as it would have allowed me time to visit again. The first pieces you encounter as you walk from the main gallery into Jungen’s exhibition are mixed material - leathers and ancient natural materials mixed and interspersed with neon lights. They have a magnetic effect, drawing you in as the colours change. It is only after being drawn in that you notice the larger work in the centre of the room, Tombstone, which is plastic making what appears evocative of a turtle shell that at first seems suspended, until you notice the deep black block of filing cabinets beneath it. Turtle island sits on bureaucracy.

From here, you enter through into the larger space, which is pure whimsy. The friendship centre has a floor demarcated like a school gymnasium, with giant totems built of stacks of golf bags positioned in the corners. Dotting the space, almost too many to properly look at, are masks and head dresses and woven blankets created from Nike shoes and shirts. The sheer intricacy of each individual sculpture is overwhelming; how the materials from the shoes align perfectly to create pattern and balance. Something deeper is here in the undercurrent, only occasionally becoming overt with pieces like I Shall Be Released, which departs from the whimsy to a place of struggle.

This gives way as you walk through a hallway of lockers, to the most political pieces. A whale skeleton made of plastic chairs. Gerry cans painted in primary colours. Chairs wrapped in dark fabrics. The constriction is palpable here.

As you move back through to exit the installation, passing through the sculptured Nikes that initially seemed so whimsical, the dark colours seem more prominent. More present. Something you can’t forget.

Brian Jungen - I Shall Be Released, 2015

Improvised Therapy @ Toronto Fringe

London-based improv company Barry Brian Bean are talented and attentive improvisers. Their sketch show is bawdy and silly and a touch absurd, which is really quite enjoyable. I’ll be honest, I was over-tired and likely not the most receptive audience member to the pull-an-audience member on stage sort of improv, but the crowd did seem to enjoy it, and I suspect a less tired me would have been more there for it. Again, these 3 are talented and engaging improvisers.

The best sketch, for me, was the recurring “Board Meeting” which was increasingly ridiculous, until the trio resembled the slimy jean-store boss from Human Traffic (bonus points if you get that reference…) and showed us their “bird feeders”.

A great and silly time if you’re up for that.

Review. In Ireland We Rented a Car From Criminals by Rod Macpherson @ Toronto Fringe

Based on the title alone, I expected this to veer more into the neighbourhood of a dark comedy, however was quite surprised to get to enjoy a story of a woman who was working to re-trace her family’s roots. There were some really beautiful moments, but on the whole, it felt as though stylistically the script hadn’t quite decided where it wanted to sit. Some refinement could turn this into a really snappy and dark commentary on perspective and history.

Both performers did excellent work inhabiting the many characters, and the monologue that starts the play and then picks up to finish it is a truly delightful piece of dark comedy. That said, the title gave us the punch line in advance of even arriving at the theatre, so a little spark of the surprise was eliminated.

All that to say that it is some fine work and a really neat seed of a script, so well worth checking out.

Review. News Play by Madeleine Brown @ Toronto Fringe

From the team that brought us the 2018 hit Everyone Wants a T-Shirt, News Play is a fun and stylized allegory about the perils of using others for our own advantage. The cast are all wonderfully smart and funny, and director Aaron Jan does a great job creating a made-up space that hearkens to the children’s books the two protagonists write.

The show got a lot of laughs from the late night audience, but I can’t say that I found the writing to be as insightful and snappy as Brown’s previous work. It isn’t bad, per say, it just felt a little more broad than the past work I’ve seen, like it could use tightening up of the ideas.

Review. Lexi & the Flying b's by Joan Jamieson @ Toronto Fringe

Bird Brain Productions bring Joan Jamieson’s sweet young audiences script to sparkling life at the George Ignatieff Kids' Fringe Venue. Focused on a young girl, Lexi, and her struggle with dyslexia, it weaves a warm story of overcoming adversity and helping others. The three actors are delightful in their work, striking just the right energy level to keep the young audiences engaged. When the big reveal of Lexi’s success approaches, one young audience member said aloud “this is going to be awesome”. And it was.

The production integrated images and video in an interesting (if slightly inconsistent) way, and I didn’t always feel the shifts in time/place were sufficiently clear. That said, the actors shone through.

Absolutely perfect for the 5-10 year old audience.

Preview - In Waking Life @ Toronto Fringe

Looking forward to catching the work of Ottawa-based Lauren Welchner and Monica Bradford-Lea during this fringe, although my schedule prevents me from getting there early in the festival.

Their intriguing production is a partially improvised comedy, following two psychic sisters as they welcome you into their business and their lives. The show premiered in 2016 and has travelled a few Fringes so far, but this is their Toronto debut.

Really loving all the interactive work going on this year at Toronto Fringe!!

You can catch them tonight (Jul 6) and throughout the festival - full details and ticket info here.

I, Malvolio @ Toronto Fringe

“It’s all too easy isn’t it. . . To destroy the thing you’re too lazy to understand. To take joy in someone else’s downfall.”

We all do it. Schadenfreüde. We laugh at someone’s misfortune. We express our dominance over others, through joy at their misfortune. We know we shouldn’t.

But do we?

This play has captivated my imagination since I first heard Tim speak about it whilst studying in London. When we re-interrogate an existing play from the perspective of a single character, a character who is beat up on for our enjoyment…and turn that interrogation on the audience, what happens? What further happens when you aren’t just doing this with an adult audience, but to teens?

I have wanted to direct this project for awhile. But this spring, in the context of the cuts to education, reverting the Healthy Living curriculum to something that was relevant when I was still in high school. . . I decided now was the time. We are doing an extreme disservice to our young people by not teaching them about bullying, about different sexual orientations, by not teaching them consent. Not to mention avoiding the subject of how much easier and simultaneously more difficult puberty must be when everything you do lives online, and can be there for the rest of your life. One indiscretion, one step across a line, one mistake, and your future can be lost. Or it can be explained away by wealthy or powerful parents. A world, today, where even the most put-together person, may have been bullied. We all wear the scars of these memories, these aggressions, on our skin.

So; we present I, Malvolio. A play which interrogates our relationships to one another, how we the audience are positioned as middle schoolers, encouraged to interact, to question what they’re watching, to be on their phones. . . literally. The play itself, the production, and hopefully your experience, are chaos. Pure chaos, through which we examine relationships, performance, audience, and failure.

The play is performed by the brilliant Justin Otto, who, through his work on this play will help you question the act of watching, the act of laughing….and ultimately the act of judgment on another’s actions.

Come join us at Artscape Youngplace, Fringe venue #24, for a site-specific and interactive production of Tim Crouch’s I, Malvolio, making its Toronto debut. And, if you’d like, add us on snapchat (impel-theatre) to see Justin perform.

Want to know a little more? Check out our interview with Donna G on The More The Merrier for CIUT Radio.

Tickets are available now! 7:30pm nightly from July 3-13 (no Sunday shows).

Review. The Brothers Size by Tarell Alvin McCraney @ Soulpepper

There is nothing more satisfying than watching a production that so perfectly understands the text, that just lets the words be in the space, and uses smart and simple choices to elevate that language to a powerful experience for the audience. Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu is masterful in her direction of Mazin Elsadig, Daren A. Herbert, and Marcel Stewart in The Brothers Size at Soulpepper. The play is filled with oppositions; strength and vulnerability, loudness and extreme quiet, public and private…all of which contribute to this deep interrogation of what masculinity means, and more specifically, what black masculinity is. Every aspect of this production, from the gorgeous choreography to the near-perfect use of music (performed live by the amazing Kobèna Aquaa-Harrison) and sound manipulation that seamlessly moves us from the real into the hyper-real dreams of the characters, to the simplicity with which each actor approaches their most heightened moments, builds into this interrogation.

The tension builds and releases so beautifully, that when we reach the final moments, you can collectively feel the audience leaning in, terrified to know the choice that will be made, the fate that we know is inevitable (like Anouilh’s spring, it is wound up tight, and the results of that release are beyond anyone’s control).

Please, please, see this production. It is beautifully constructed and utterly crushing in all the best ways.