Toronto: What a fabulous, fun, outrageous idea! Take three extraordinarily talented improv actors and have them perform a long-form improvisation in the style of a certain playwright. Throughout their six shows at the SummerWorks festival, this cast of three who make up Impromptu Splendor will perform in styles as diverse as George F. Walker to Judith Thompson.
Toronto: Red Machine (Part Two), presented as part of this year's SummerWorks Festival, is the second part of an experiment. Seven writers were given the same idea – mysterious writer checks into strange hotel – and asked to explore it from the point-of-view of a particular part of the brain. Part two deals with language (Section Four), light and vision (Section Five) and the pleasure centre (Section Six).
This is the photograph which accompanies the review which is of a show that Allyson saw.
Toronto: XXX Live Nude Girls is a ‘Doll Opera’ by Jennifer Walshe and is part of this year's SummrerWorks Festival. It stars a collection of well used Barbie Dolls and features two vocal performers, a quartet of musicians, two camera operators, and two real-time video projections. It is bound to be one of the most unique if also convoluted shows at this year’s festival.
*endORPHIN*, creatd by the Plastic Orchid Factory and presented by this year's Dancing on the Edge Festival, takes us on a dark, apocalyptic journey into the subconscious of the 21st century. It shows human culture on the cusp of the cyborg era. The title endORPHIN – which ironically joins catastrophe and pleasure – suggests that this is a grim psychic reality where the only happiness is a terror-induced euphoria.
Natalie LeFebvre Gnam from EndORPHIN, a dystopian world
Charm is a rare commodity in the theatre. With entertainment dominated by violence and special effects, it is difficult to engage an audience long enough to have them care about two very ordinary people.
Under the light of the salt water moon are Jacob (Joel Grinke) and Mary (Abby Creek)
Audible by the 605 Collective, presented by Dancing on the Edge, is dance for the purist. Yes, the piece fuses genres—from martial arts to tango to hip hop—but the performers’ sheer physicality fills the stage, uncomplicated by a set, props, or elaborate lighting.
605 crew: Maiko Miyauchi, Lisa Gelley, Josh Martin, Sasha Kozak, Shay Kuebler; photo: Chris Randle
As the name suggests, the 12 Minutes Max Sampler presented works drawn from this past season’s 12 Minute Max series, a series designed to showcase the work of “emerging talents and emerging works from established artists” in Vancouver.
“Who is she?” ask the program notes for Robin Poitras’s performance of SHE at the Chapel Arts Centre, part of the Dancing on the Edge festival. “Is she a musician/is she a dancer/is she a singer?” But the performance itself – an arresting, vivid contribution by a deeply skilled performer – asks more radical questions about embodiment, momentum and resonance.
