A Really Bad Play is actually really great and plays at The Pia Bouman School in Toronto
I can go on and on about plays I dislike, that are poorly executed, or just find awkward, but writing about a play I loved is probably one of the hardest things to do. This is the challenge I face now.
In this case the play was poorly executed – on purpose. A Really Bad Play (by FroMast Productions) was performed in a small theatre close to Dufferin and is about a play that is, well, really bad, written and executed by Mark Tipps (Daniel Stolfi). He appears to think that both he and the play are genius.
As most of us have read Shakespeare in high school there are generally no surprises in plot with modern day performances. The real magic with Shakespeare is how it’s recreated. This is especially the case since we don’t speak English the same way he did at that time; the more a performance can help us connect with the story, the better.
While sitting at the Hart House Theatre, waiting for Macbeth to begin, I started skimming the program, and came across the Director’s notes. The following words caught my eye: “Harold Bloom suggests that we are able to relate to Macbeth on a level unmatched by any other Shakespearean hero. At first that seems unlikely since most of us aren’t so murderously ambitious, and yet we have all, at some point, made choices that we would describe as going against our nature.” Continue reading Review: Macbeth (Hart House)→
Before going to see In The Pines (Yabu No Naka Co-Op, Campbell House Museum and Red One Theatre Collective), staged at the Campbell House Museum, I read a two-three-sentence blurb about it, that completely undersold the show (in my opinion). That said, I’m not sure there are a lot of words that would accurately convey how good it was.
It is based on the classic Rashomon tales by Ryunesuke Akutagawa. It is the tale of a violent crime, told in testimonial form from various different perspectives. It is composed completely of monologues, as none of the characters ever interact with each other.
I saw Fixt Point’s The Tale of a Town last year – and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very different from any other show I’d ever seen – organic, honest with a perfect blend of wistfulness and humour for times past.
When I heard the show was being re-mounted, I knew I had to see it again. As I looked around at the other audience members, I thought how many of them were unprepared for the experience that lay ahead of them – I already had a good idea of what was to come.
Patrons sipped on drinks, chatting animatedly among each other. The music was peppy, and the lights sort of disco-esque with a glittering ball twirling round and round.
A Really Bad Play is actually really great and plays at The Pia Bouman School in Toronto
