Theatre
As fall formally begins and the major Toronto theatre companies launch into their 2024/25 seasons, two star-studded and atmospheric tragedies take centre stage. Each directed by their host company’s reliably inspiring artistic director, Crow’s Theatre’s Rosmersholm (Chris Abraham) and Buddies in Bad Times’ Roberto Zucco (ted witzel) both offer short but heady translations of European texts exploring themes of death, wealth, and relative morality.
Abraham’s take on Ibsen’s Rosmersholm (by way of adapter Duncan Macmillan) is stark and understated, its tone fully captured by Joshua Quinlan’s evocatively dusty set and how Kimberly Purtell’s gorgeous lighting design selectively cuts through it. witzel’s vision of Bernard-Marie Koltès’ Roberto Zucco (translated by Martin Crimp) is dirty in a different way, coated with the grime of use rather than neglect, each panel of Michelle Tracey’s excellent modular design revealing new layers of accumulating ick.
Though both shows feature rock solid casts doing strong work, neither text lifts completely enough out of the intellectual realm to fully engage emotionally beyond when Zucco lighting designer Logan Raji Cracknell and witzel team up for a startling moment or two of memorable theatricality (I was heartbroken to miss what promised to be a stirring climax when a fire alarm caused by the production’s smoke machine cut the show short by one key minute). Overall, I’m surprised to say that competency carries the day in both of these productions rather than the full artistic impact both directors are more than capable of delivering.
Music
While Toronto’s theatre scene may be a little staid at the moment, the city has played host to an incredible array of exciting touring musicians this summer and into the fall (the Eras tour hits in November; we’re not ready). I’m not much of a concert person, preferring to keep our music branch afloat with artist spotlights and the occasional cabaret rather than brave the giant shouting crowds at a stadium show, but there is one artist I will always see when he’s in town- intellectual punk-folk troubadour Frank Turner.
Last time Turner was in town, it was to support his acoustic album No Man’s Land so the concert was a quieter, seated affair. This time I saw him at the final performance of his sprawling four-day annual Lost Evenings festival (named after his song “I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous”, in my opinion one of the greatest songs ever written). In order to make the festival work, the concert(s) took place at the Great Canadian Casino & Resort, an odd and pretty uncool venue far from downtown Toronto. The casino allowed for the tricky logistics of the festival, which needed an attached hotel as well as spaces for panels, smaller acts, and other initiatives, but if it’s atmosphere you’re after, the casino is not the place.
Luckily, Frank Turner is a killer showman so truly none of the surrounding noise matters. After the quiet atmosphere of his last spin through town, it was a thrill to watch (from the safety of the grandstand) as the excited crowd on the floor moved as if he was conducting them. They jumped when he said jump, they danced when he said dance; at one point he told them to sit on the floor and they actually did it. Perhaps most poignant for me, however, was Turner’s inclusivity. He made a point during the all-ages event of acknowledging that not everyone is comfortable jumping, so he made room for us to be there, happily jumping on the inside and feeling no less valid for being just a little less punk rock.
Comedy
Finally, one of Toronto’s strongest artistic fronts is its incredible comedy scene. Any night of the week, in any number of venues across the city, there’s an improv, stand-up, or sketch show that’s worth seeing. There’s probably a few. At Comedy Bar on Bloor, one such show that I got the chance to see last month was Gillian Bartolucci’s solo sketch work. One of the most consistently energetic and inventive solo performers around, Bartolucci’s shows are always a great mix of goof and gravitas with smart insight and moments of profundity that show off the solid acting foundation on which her comedy performances sit. At least one of the sketches in her latest show was familiar to anyone who saw her 2019 Fringe show but it’s a hit so I didn’t mind revisiting.