Shows that Caught Our Eye in Toronto for the Week of December 16, 2019
With school ending for the year at the end of this week, I am in full-on Holiday prep mode. And, two kids at home ramps up the excitement to a whole new level! There is just so much to do to get everything ready for a great family holiday season, that I need to remember to take some quiet time for myself. And the best place for quiet is the theatre!
If you’re like me and want some time off from the bustle of the season, check out one of the shows that caught our eye this week. This week our editor Samantha is letting you know what shows she thinks are noteworthy this week – check out her recommendations in holiday-festive ‘red‘!
In Toronto, I Love You no two shows will ever be the same, so there’s always more to discover… just like Toronto itself.
Bad Dog Theatre is bringing their much loved comedy show, Toronto, I Love You, back for a limited run. The show features an ensemble cast performing long-form improv comedy. Taking its narrative inspiration from conversations between the cast and audience members, the show explores imagined encounters in different Toronto neighbourhoods. Continue reading Review: Toronto, I Love You (Bad Dog Theatre Company)→
Ikumagialiit is an improvisational, elastic performance that is ‘an intense, beautiful, and terrifying experience’.
If there was a performance version of an all-star game (and that’s an amusing idea) then the North team would clearly be anchored by Laakuluk Williamson Bathory, Christine Tootoo, Jamie Griffiths, and Cris Derksen. There isn’t, but don’t despair – the quartet is already working as though there were, and has created Ikumagialiit (“those that need fire”) to show you how it’s done. The improvisational, elastic piece showed for one night at Harbourfront’s Festival of Cool: Arctic to a sold-out crowd.
Cash Me If You Can is a ‘fun evening’ of a one-man performance full of self-deprecating humour
Patrick Combs took on a bank and won. Cash Me If You Can is his story and he’s telling it at the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre. It’s a great story and he tells it well. Which is to be expected; he’s been telling it to a lot of people for a while now.
When Combs was 29 he got one of those junk mail cheques in his mail. The kind we’ve all received, part of a ‘you can get rich too’ pitch. It was payable to him in the amount of $95,095.33, drawn on a real bank, signed, and had “NOT NEGOTIABLE FOR CASH” printed in the top right corner. He decided to deposit it as a joke. The show is the story of what happened after that.
A Million Billion Pieces captures the intensity of young love in a complex world
Young People’s Theatre presents the world premiere of A Million Billion Pieces, written by David James Brock and directed by Philip Akin. The play explores the intensity of teenage love, with the added stakes of a rare, terminal disease.
A Million Billion Pieces captures the intensity of young love in a complex world