Assassinating Thomson - Featuring Original Painting & An Art Auction!

Here’s what is going to happen. For 80 or so minutes Bruce Horak is going to stand on stage and paint a portrait of you; by you I mean the whole audience, but it will feel like it is just you. While he is painting your portrait, he’s going to tell you a long beautiful story that interweaves his life story, information on visual impairment and blindness, some Canadian art history, some instruction on art making, facts about the Group of Seven, philosophies and many theories on what happened to Tom Thomson on July 8, 1917.

The creative team of Monster Theatre make some really excellent choices that help you forget you are in a theatre. For one, the house lights are up, but not just the house lights, the florescent house lights. There is a drop sheet on the stage alongside an easel and table with paints and brushes. It feels like the East Side Culture Crawl. And Bruce…Bruce talks to you like you are sitting in his studio.  His tone is so conversational it’s hard not to respond back, ‘cause it’s just us, having a conversation right… 

And it is a fascinating conversation. Bruce weaves themes and their variations together with such charm and wit that you are laughing while being provoked to thought about Canadian identity, ableism and art. This show is a one man performance at its very best. It’s theatre at its very best. I’ll be thinking about many ideas brought up here for years to come.

After Bruce is done painting your portrait, he’ll turn it around for you to see. He’ll offer you to bid on it. I put a bid in at a price I was pretty sure would guarantee my success (it did) to ensure my portrait was for me ‘cause this was a night that I wanted to remember in a way that no one else could see. I’ve included a photo for your viewing pleasure.

Note: For free with the purchase of your  ticket you can also see Bruce Horak’s visual art exhibit “The Way I See It” in the lobby of the Firehall. It’s well worth your time.

Show Info: Assassinating Thomson is written and performed by Bruce Horak and produced by Monster Theatre. It runs October 8-19 at the Firehall Art  Centre.