Toronto is home to Canada's most active English language theatre scene, considered to be the third largest centre for English language theatre in the world, behind New York and London. It also enjoys a lively performing arts scene that ranges from small, independent productions to the hosting of large, international acts.
After a hugely successful run with Blastback Babyzap in last year’s Fringe and winning the title of Best of the Fest at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival in December, Uncalled For returns to defend its status as one of the most innovative and reliable sketch troupes in the country with *Today Is All Your Birthdays*.
If the title of Sean Cullen’s mini-tour smacks of straight-faced obviousness, it should. Unlike some star-driven one man shows, there is no hokey pretense on which his presentation hangs, only an opening voice over that is as dramatic as it is obtuse: a fair description of most of Cullen’s material.
This is the poster that was on paper for the man who is human who put on a show
On Saturday, June 6, *Skin Divers* & *Carmen* brought sexuality to the Four Seasons stage to rival the hottest bedroom. Skin Divers opens the senses to the body’s power to remember, and the mind continues to process it long after curtain. While this multimedia piece is sophisticated and stimulating, Carmen overwhelms audiences during the second half of the evening. This provocative interpretation of the famed opera is an eruption of passions so powerful they cannot be processed, simply absorbed.
Ravenous applause greeted the opening performance of *Giselle* last night and the final production for prima ballerina Chan Hon Goh. Leading the "National Ballet of Canada":http://www.national.ballet.ca/, which has been her home for 20 years, Goh was a revelation in the majestic Four Seasons auditorium. Her dancing was sublime, as it has been throughout her dazzling career. But her dramatic power continues to evolve and engulf the stage.
In a world primed for cynicism it would be easy to dismiss a story like *Tuesdays with Morrie* as a schmaltzy softball for bleeding hearts in the same vein as the sometimes over-the-top “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series of books. However such a dismissal would be missing the true merits of the work and an opportunity to be truly moved.
Rick Roberts and Hal Linden in Tuesdays with Morrie
In a world preoccupied with flu pandemics, economic crises and a brand spanking new era of American politics, it’s no surprise that some of the slower burning challenges facing society have been pushed to back of our consciences. AIDS in the western world is one such challenge.
Gavin Crawford as Prodon and David Yee as Vidor in I Have AIDS. Photo by Mircea Popescu
Theatre tackling the issues of the day is often referred to as ‘timely’, whereas theatre touching on themes as old and persistent as humanity itself is dubbed ‘timeless’. In those instances when the two overlap there is no single term to encapsulate the idea, but suffice to say it is a rich experience and Toronto’s "Soulpepper Theatre":http://www.soulpepper.ca/ has brought just such an experience to the stage with their production of David Mamet’s pointed signature work, *Glengarry Glen Ross*.
Jordan Pettle and Eric Peterson wonder who the fuck they're looking at
A young cast gives new life to Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme. This production by The Canadian Opera Company charmed audiences if not critics at the opening April 17 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
Frédérique Vézina as Mimì and David Pomeroy as Rodolfo La Bohème; photo: Michael Cooper
David Mamet is often considered the godfather of machismo, his works populated by the manliest men to ever grace stage and screen. The ‘Mamet Man’ is a chest-thumping, fast-talking, swaggering force of nature, and this is never more evident than in his masterpiece *Glengarry Glen Ross*, currently being staged by Toronto’s "Soulpepper Theatre Company":http://www.soulpepper.ca/. In Mamet’s world you’re either predator or prey, and it’s thrilling to watch his characters battle it out to decide which category they fall into.
“Is this how artists think of science?” remarked my scientist roommate as we exited the mixed-media show *Dedicated to the Revolutions* by "Small Wooden Shoe":http://www.smallwoodenshoe.org/index.html, “as a series of convenient metaphors to explain life?" The production was founded upon the ambitious manifesto of understanding the effect of scientific progress on our world, and I'd asked my roommate along to contribute his expertise in the field.
Dedicated to the Revolutions, science as understood by artists
