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.
The Show:
The Pastor Phelps Project, which, thanks to the real threats of protest by the Westboro Baptist Church, is the most notorious show at this year’s SummerWorks Festival.
The Pastor Phelps Project; Carey Wass as Fred Phelps; photo: Alistair Newton
In 1918 Igor Stravinsky wrote a music theatre piece "to be read, played, and danced". The libretto, which is based on a Russian folk tale, was written in French by the Swiss universalist writer C.F. Ramuz. It is a parable about a soldier on leave, who trades his fiddle to the Devil for a book that predicts the future of the economy, a moral tale of greed and punishment.
A re-telling of Ovid’s story of Tereus, Philomela and Procne, Groundwater Productions' If We Were Birds opens with Philomela (Tara Rosling) appearing from behind an overturned table. She opens her mouth and blood spills from her lips. The echo of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (which was inspired by the same source story) is unmistakable. Unlike poor Lavinia, Philomela has had her tongue sewn back in so she can tell us her tale.
