Despite all the unkind things I’ve said about him, I’m in awe of Alex Ferguson.
He fired off a comprehensive "review":http://plankmagazine.com/review/performance-art/siren-waiting-spaceship-... of *Siren* the very night he saw it! Dear god, Alex, how did you do it? Here it is nearly 48 hours since I experienced this sound installation by Ray Lee from the UK (part of the "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=home) and I’m still having trouble formulating my thoughts. Alex does such a good job of describing the actual event that I suggest you check out his review for yourself if you haven’t already (besides, he needs the...
[img_assist|nid=655|title=Childish gestures, Five Days in March, photo: Thomas Bremond|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=384|height=256]Recently in theatre there has been a disturbing tendency of what I can only describe as “action-narration”, where characters describe the actions they’re doing while doing them. For example, if Fred has to walk into a room, open a cupboard and shove a cupcake in his ear he will narrate the action thusly: “I walk into the room, open a cupboard and shove a cupcake in my ear”. I have no idea why playwrights have been adopting this technique unless they’re trying to assert some sort of control over actors and directors....
If you thought you had Vancouver’s "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php figured out, think again. With *Siren* as this year’s opener, Executive Director Norman Armour cleans the slate and starts anew. More than anything, this sound installation by "Ray Lee":http://www.invisible-forces.com/ (Oxford, UK) is about expecting the unexpected.
Siren: like watching fireflies on mars, photo: Ray Lee
[img_assist|nid=648|title=Blow jobs for the boys, Kirsten Slenning as Commander Kitty, Mike is to the left fondling his M&M's|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=384|height=255]By Michael John Unger
A few years ago at the "Theatre Under the Gun: Show Off Festival":http://plankmagazine.com/feature/another-48-hours-without-nick-nolte-sho..., the team of Matthew Bissett and Kennedy Goodkey presented a brilliant piece of theatre in which they basically played themselves rehearsing for their presentation at Show Off. They discussed how they’d done lots of different kinds of theatre and set out to try and figure out what they hadn’t done yet. They came up with a mathematical equation and graphed out four quadrants. The axis...
Justin Haigh gives you the lowdown on all the shows featured at this year’s Next Stage Festival. Profound dedication and a heated beer tent will produce such results.
*Yichud/Seclusion*
This three part play about the nature of manhood, marriage and sexuality in Orthodox Judaism demonstrates that playwright Julie Tepperman understands how to make a one hour piece work.
Getting ready for the wedding night are Julie Tepperman and Aaron Willis in Yichud/Seclusion
The set is unapologetically messy with bits of paper and books scattered everywhere, random windows hanging upstage, rolling chairs crudely strapped together and there are a few too many awkward transitions, yet *Don’t Look* is a completely charming story about a moment of mild incest between two first cousins that spirals into half a lifetime of social impotence. It is presented as part of Toronto's "Next Stage Festival":http://www.fringetoronto.com/nstf/nstf_shows.html.
Fine genetic material, Rebecca Applebaum and Daniel Sadavoy in Don't Look, photo: Bryanna Reilly
Hailing from Orlando, Florida and Austin, Texas, *L’Ange Avec Les Fleurs*, a “Junkyard Melodrama” thuds enthusiastically onto the Factory Theatre Mainstage as part of Toronto's "Next Stage Festival":http://fringetoronto.com/nstf/nstf_shows.html. Unfortunately for them, the audiences have not yet come out in droves, and there was only a smattering of people in the audience for Monday night’s show.
Be a clown: L’Ange Avec Les Fleurs, Chris Gibson, photo Stefano
Okay, before I start, I must admit my bias. Right from reading the play title and synopsis in the "Next Stage Festival":http://fringetoronto.com/nstf/nstf_shows.html brochure, down to learning the character names (denial, anger, depression, etc.), I was ready to give up 75 minutes of my life I would never get back. The use of phrases like “powerful journey” and “seeking redemption” just brought up far too many flashbacks to female collective theatre pieces by susceptible 19-year-olds who had just discovered some fill-in-your-own-blank feminist writer upon breaking up with some boy they thought was their soul mate....
To call the touring production of *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* ‘family friendly’ would be inaccurate. The show, imported by "Mirvish Productions":http://www.mirvish.com/OurShows/ and now playing at Toronto’s Canon Theatre, is very kid friendly, but parents hoping for an equally engaging theatrical experience may be disappointed.
A funny thing happened on my way to New York City…at the "Gateway Theatre":https://www.gatewaytheatre.com/ in Richmond. On my list of must-see Broadway shows for a brief visit to NYC was "South Pacific":http://www.lct.org/showMain.htm?id=174; a revival that has garnered enough awards to make you go cross-eyed.
Take that New York! The cast of Guys and Dolls in Richmond
