The physical and vocal performances in LU XUN blossoms are impressive. The show is a collaboration between Canada’s Theatre Smith-Gilmour and China’s Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. It’s easy to see why Smith-Gilmour founders Dean Gilmour and Michele Smith are drawn to the work of the Shanghai artists.

Gilmour and Smith have a reputation for eschewing set conventions  to create productions based mostly on movement. Similarly, Chinese theatre is known for its physicality and the movement of the Chinese performers in LU XUN blossoms incredible. Smith and Gilmour held their own despite being further advanced in years.

Each performer plays a number of characters, animals, and set pieces during the show but I was never confused as to who or what, they were portraying at any given moment. With a simple, smooth, quick motion, a marble statue of a lion turns into the First Wife of the household or a gang of children looking for food in the street turn into a bunch of drunks hanging out in a bar.

We don’t need any words, spoken or projected, to announce the change of scene or characters – it is all transmitted coherently and beautifully through movement. Continue reading Luminato 2011 Review: LU XUN blossoms →

Queen’s University alumni form the Queen’s Players Toronto Theatre Group. This year, the Queen’s Players present a cabaret-style show called The Office Spaceballs at the Tranzac Theatre. The show runs from June 16-18, and 23-25.

The theatre group’s president, Peter Higgins, warned me that the show would be like no other show I have been to. He said it was “part sketch-comedy, part rock-concert, part keg party.” I would say this description is pretty accurate.

Continue reading Review: The Office Spaceballs (Queens Players) →

Luminato commissioned the translation and production by Necessary Angel of Tout Comme Elle; billed as “a fusion of movement, text and song examining the unique relationship between mothers and daughters”.

It’s difficult to describe Tout Comme Elle. It’s a 90 minute production featuring 50 actors from Toronto, all on stage throughout the entire show. At a guess I’d say they range in age from their mid-twenties to their mid-sixties. Some are just starting their careers, some are established as performers and some are Canadian theatre legends.

Continue reading Luminato 2011 Review: Tout Comme Elle (Necessary Angel and Luminato) →

Necessary Angel productions present Andromache as part of this year’s Luminato Festival in Toronto directed by Graham McLaren collaborating with writer Evie Christie held at The Theatre Centre until June 19.

I love what’s happening with theatre these days. It’s become so much more than what I soaked up in my final high school years picking apart the Stanislavski method. The experience for the audience has grown beyond watching a show without a TV screen. Continue reading Luminato 2011 Review: Andromache (Necessary Angel) →