The production of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, performed at the Theatre Passe Muraille, is truly a wonder. A perfect stage for a one-man play, actor Bob Nasmith shines. Like the beacon of Canadian theatre he is (if it’s not too overblown to say), Nasmith commands the stage with the gravitas of person and character […]
In the Backspace inch of your LIFE: episode 1/the pilot (The Theatre Circuit) The first episode of a three-part saga about Italian-Canadian (they might be American; Italian-North American at least) brothers who can’t get out of each other’s way, inch of your LIFE‘s pilot is a cleanly directed, excellently paced introduction to a memorable set […]
Eat, Buy, Repeat (The Second City) This “Guide to the Holidays” from the Second City Touring Company is charming and fun if a little imbalanced in quality. We begin with a group song about coping in the hellfire that is 2016 but the fact that no one in this cast can sing becomes a problem […]
Secrets of a Black Boy (Playing with Crayons/Theatre Passe Muraille) A constantly evolving mix of storytelling and narrative theatre, playwright Darren Anthony’s moving and evocative Secrets of a Black Boy brings five very different black men together for one last game of dominoes before their community centre closes. The play begins with a theatrical montage […]
This new adaptation by Matthew Thomas Walker (who also directs) of Aldous Huxley’s dystopian masterpiece written 84 years in the past and set 524 years in the future is big and bold for a company only on its third project. The script is a little bloated, full of draggy exposition that could certainly be shown […]
Scarberia (Young People’s Theatre) As the lights dimmed on Evan Placey’s coast-jumping, Shakespeare-referencing, mind-bending one-act about two sets of teenage boys tied together by a young woman who goes missing in Scarborough, Ontario and shows up in Scarborough, England, the early-high school audience began muttering that it was “too complicated” and “confusing”. It is really […]
In case you missed it the first time around, you’re in luck because Pyaasa is currently being remounted at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille. Written and performed by Anusree Roy, this is a one-woman show detailing the story of a family of Untouchables in India. Set in Calcutta, the story revolves around 11 year-old Chaya, only […]
Slip (Circlesnake Productions) High expectations are a tricky business. They’re why you should never rewatch an Oscar Best Picture winner, why everyone took the 2013 Jays season so hard, and why Justin Trudeau might be a little bit doomed. After the effusive praise I heaped on their last production Dark Matter (winner of the 2014 […]