Your Side, My Side and the Truth, presented at SummerWorks, is interesting piece of ensemble work where people in their prolonged 20’s try to figure out their lives, loves and losses. The play uses narration to move through the intertwining stories of five youngish girls and guys who are just trying to figure out who they are.
It might sound like the stuff of overplayed quarter life crisis, but it really isn’t. This play really grabbed me and held me for the full seventy five minutes at The Scotiabank Studio theatre.
A mystery set in the late eighteen hundreds, Willow Bunch is a riveting tale that takes place in the Canadian prairies. Written and directed by Rona Waddington, it is about a young British schoolteacher named Clara (Tal Gottfried) who takes a position at the local schoolhouse and takes up residence on an eriely quite edge of town.
She has come to town looking for information on her family and past and she soon crosses paths with Rylatt (Jonathon Purdon), who serves as a sort of sheriff and caretaker for the pioneer village. Clara is an unmarried and pregnant young woman and this makes all involved uneasy. Continue reading Willow Bunch (Willow Bunch Productions) 2012 SummerWorks Review→
Playing in Theatre Passe Muraille’s Mainspace as part of SummerWorks, Haunted is a show written and directed by Daniel Karasik. The script won the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Award and was a finalist for the Herman Voaden National Playwrighting Award. The short scenes that make up the piece likely read as witty, tight and well thought-out. Continue reading Haunted (Tangoco) 2012 SummerWorks Review→
Be captivated by the Prisoner of Tehran at Toronto’s TPM
It felt like quite a battle getting into see Prisoner of Tehran at Theatre Passe Muraille. The media were invited to a day other than the opening and I couldn’t make it. Then I went at 7:45, expecting to see the show at 8:00. It started at 7:30. Third time being a charm, I felt like I had worked hard to see this show! This was the reason I squealed with glee when I saw that Theatre Passe Muraille had added the piece to their line-up.
I am a huge fan of CBC’s Canada Reads program and that is how I came across the astounding novel which is a firsthand account written by Marina Nemat (defended for Canada Reads by Arlene Dickson). When I read it in February, I found myself running to the book every chance I could get. So I was bound and determined to see this show.
Pulitzer winning Clybourne Park impresses in Toronto
I couldn’t remember much about A Raisin in the Sun when I walked into Clybourne Park; a joint production for Canadian Stage and Studio 180 staged at the Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs. All I knew was that this show had something to do with it. I am especially glad I didn’t look at the program either. And with all that said, if you like surprises then I ask you to stop reading this review and go get yourself some tickets. This was one of the best and most enjoyable shows I have seen in a long while. Honestly, stop reading and order your tickets. This review will still be here when you come home talking about the show. Which I can almost guarantee you will be.
For those of you not down with surprises – or who have already seen this show – read on. I say this because I loved not knowing anything about the play’s structure. That said, even if you read this whole entry, I still must urge that you go and experience it for yourself. Continue reading Review: Clybourne Park (Canadian Stage/Studio 180)→
