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 […]
A theme you will find in my reviews of Luminato shows is that I tend to feel like the festival is not really for me. I have fairly conventional theatre taste and fairly passive political beliefs (at least among the liberal consensus of my community) so Luminato’s artsy, brazen, avant-garde vibe is really just not […]
Cannibal Galaxy: A Love Story, currently running at The New Ohio Theatre on Christopher Street, benefits from strength of concept and cast-demographic. It relies on a relatively small cast of well-featured eccentrics, each bringing their own troubled, idiosyncratic journeys to the table. We have a group of distinct, diverse, psychologically interesting characters and relatively strong […]
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 […]
It is remarkable that the principal themes of Machinal, an expressionist 1928 play by Sophie Treadwell, should resonate so acutely with the dominant questions of the modern world. Ideas of a woman’s role in an industrial and patriarchal society, whether one can be trapped by society and whether there is any ‘way out’ are in many […]
With a sharp and witty script delivered with crisp precision, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is highly entertaining throughout, combining comedy and drama gracefully to produce a wonderfully crafted story. A highly entertaining new play, based on Lola Shoneyin’s novel, it tells the tale of a polygamous relationship in modern day Nigeria and […]
Bad Dog Comedy Theatre is getting in on Pride month with an Official Pride Toronto Community event this weekend, a two-day mini-festival of shows highlighting LGBTQ performers. Three shows on Friday will be followed up by four shows on Saturday and, as is often the case at Bad Dog, you can add shows to your […]
Randy Writes A Novel, currently playing at the Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row, is not what one would conventionally call “theatre,” per se. The show is set in a theatre, but it is really a semi-scripted stand-up comedy act built around personal storytelling, riffing on societal commentary, and interspersed with existential philosophy and reflection. And […]