Toronto-based choreographer and dancer Esie Mensah’s Shades premiered at the Factory Theatre with a short run, September 27 to 20, 2018. Shades is an exploration of the discrimination between lighter-skinned and darker-skinned members of communities of colour, known as shadeism. This work addresses how the privileging of skin tones leads to fractures in communities of […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews Café Sarajevo episode 1 (A+) A surprising diversion from the usual SummerWorks lineup, Café Sarajevo is a live SummerWorks LAB podcast discussing the nature of humanity, the implacable human spirit, the importance of language and the heartbreaking struggles of war. Inspired by a famous […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews fantasylover (A+) fantasylover was weird and wonderful. The characters presented onstage were so clear and defined, and had the audience in peals of laughter. The show had a good flow throughout, rising and falling in energy, and the amount of thought and work that […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews A Kev n’ Cal Mystery (A+) A comedic play that is very reminiscent of the Hardy Boys, a Kev n’ Cal Mystery is riotously funny and nostalgic. Live ukelele accompaniment (Matt Gerber) is the perfect touch and tone, and very tastefully delivered. The timing of […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Katharine Ferns is in Stitches (A) Get ready to laugh. Get ready to cry. Get ready to do both at the same time. This is dark comedy that is surprisingly uplifting. Katharine Ferns lays out her past, which is pretty horrible, on the table […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Harvey and The Extraordinary (A+) At once exploring childlike glee and darker undertones of more adult concepts of coping with loss through the lens of youth, Harvey and the Extraordinary is a stripped down play in a garage of one young Mimi, or […]
Sitting in the audience of a dance performance, feeling fully enveloped by the movement, is one of the most delicious experiences I can think of. The Cuban based Malpaso Dance Company brought to Luminato 2018 three mesmerizing performances that, along with the superb accompaniment of Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble, suspended time […]
Luminato 2018 promised to interrogate the issues of human-rights, justice and inclusion, and Swan Lake/Loch na hEala does not disappoint with its dark themes of loss—of innocence, of purpose, and of hope—rape, suicide, police brutality and populist politics all feature. Written, directed and choreographed by Michael Keagan-Dolan, performed by Teac Damsa dance theatre and accompanied […]