Billy Bishop Goes to War is an iconic Canadian play. First written and performed by Eric Peterson and John Gray in 1978, the show has toured extensively across Canada, performed at the Edinburgh Festival and has enjoyed runs in London’s West End and on Broadway. In fact, it’s one of only four Canadian shows to have played on a Broadway stage and remains one of the most-produced Canadian plays of all time.
Throughout the years Eric Peterson and John Gray have repeatedly re-visited Billy Bishop Goes to War and have updated the play along the way. The two performers are now sixty-two years old; the same age Bishop was when he died. This current version of the play features an aging Billy Bishop at home in his pajamas reminiscing about his past glories from afar. Continue reading Review: Billy Bishop Goes to War (Soulpepper)→
Here are all of the shows we wish we could get out and see this week! Take your pick from our list of great theatre escapes for the week of June 6th, 2011:
** Shows marked with the double asterisks and in red are the ones that make Wayne, our managing editor, wish he could exist in multiple parallel universes so he could check them all out.
Mooney on Theatre is looking for folks to review Toronto Fringe Festival shows, which run from July 6 to 17.
Requirements for the position:
Able to attend at least 10 shows during the Fringe Festival (you can spread this through the whole festival, or you can do it in 3 days, it’s up to you how you want to check it out)
A strong writer, who can provide comments in a positive/constructive manner – the ability to express what you like and don’t like while acknowledging it is your opinion, and not an absolute
Able to work with blog publishing software (either a quick learner, or someone with experience – it’s not very complicated)
Ability to work independently and turn information around very quickly
Access to a computer to work from (we don’t have an office)
What you DON’T need:
To have been published previously
Theatre experience or knowledge (I’ve always said my dream writer is someone who hasn’t seen a play since high school)
The positions are unpaid. Each writer will receive one free ticket to the show they are reviewing .
If you are interested, please forward a writing sample to megan@mooneyontheatre.com by end of day Sunday June 18. The sample should be between 250 and 400 words, and if possible be in a review format (the last play or movie you saw, or heck, an episode of some tv show).
I look forward to hearing from you, as soon as possible.
Against The Grain Theatre’s production of La Bohème at Toronto’s Tranzac Club sucks all the elitism out of opera. It’s opera you watch while tossing back a pint and wearing your jeans. It’s opera where you might be making small talk with the other couple at your table, and then when the lights go out one of your new friend’s stands up and starts singing because, as it turns out, she’s in the chorus.
The interactivity of the show doesn’t end there – but nor is it the painful kind of theatre interactivity where the actors pick some poor sod out of the audience to embarrass him or her with everyone’s attention. It’s the kind of interactivity where the scenes that are set at a bar take place at the venue’s actual bar and if you happen to be up there getting a drink then you’re a part of the set too.
Before going into this show I didn’t know the story of La Bohème at all, but I knew this production was translated into English so I wasn’t worried. As it turns out, it’s about a bunch of poor artists having tumultuous relationships and at least one terminal illness. Think of it as the O.G.Rent – except much better. (I don’t like Rent.) Continue reading Review: La Bohème (Against The Grain Theatre)→
To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what I was walking into when I decided to see Tightrope. When I read the words “cabaret”, “drag performers” and “song cycle”, I was immediately taken to the lively, brash and in-your-face drag queen shows that would sum up a great Saturday night in the Village. But the subject matter of societal loss and the threat of this loss fading from memory didn’t jive with what I was seeing in my mind. Continue reading Review: Tightrope (2boys.tv)→
