Everything to do with the Next Stage Festival which happens in January in Toronto
Returning to the Next Stage Festival after a hugely successful run at the 2019 Toronto Fringe is Every Silver Lining, a refreshing new musical that is both light and youthful and a downright tearjerker. The story and music hit at just the right level; these characters sound like teenagers living through teenage lives, and as we’ve all lived through these years, you are bound to laugh, cry, and relate.
Continue reading Every Silver Lining (Silver Lining Productions) 2020 Next Stage Review
Tita Collective bring their Fringe hit Tita Jokes to Next Stage Festival. This light-hearted, musical sketch show reflects on what it means to be both a Tita and a Philippinx Canadian and is relatable to audience members of all backgrounds.
Continue reading Tita Jokes (Tita Collective) 2020 Next Stage Review
In 49th Day by athena kaitlin trinh, produced by Theatre ARTaud at the 2020 Next Stage Theatre Festival, a young woman (trinh) travels from Canada to Vietnam to fulfill the ritual requirements for her deceased grandmother (Diana Tso). The titular number of days refers to the length of time rice and offerings are brought to the altar for the dead.
Swearing up a storm and wrecking the ritual order, granddaughter is torn between a desire to honour her grandmother and to rage at her for her departure. She’s desperate to have one final, parting moment of connection with a woman and a culture both ever-present and distant to her. Highly specific yet universal, her story is a familiar one to many grandchildren of immigrants: she has Chinese and Vietnamese heritage, but admits her limited knowledge of those cultures’ languages and histories runs from rudimentary to almost non-existent, respectively.
Continue reading 49th Day (Theatre ARTaud) 2020 Next Stage Review
When the temporary technical battles of the very first show of the 2020 Next Stage Theatre Festival had been won, Ophira Calof’s opening night of Literally Titanium presented us with another war: one waged between her own mind and body.
Troublesome DNA has left her with titanium in her spine to help hold her head up. She also uses a seriously cool power chair to transport her around the stage, making loops with vigour and grace.
Continue reading Literally Titanium (Ophira Calof) 2020 Next Stage Review
Raising Stanley / Life with Tulia, playing at the Next Stage Theatre Festival after its sold-out premiere in Ottawa, is a multi-disciplinary piece that combines storytelling and painting to take the audience on a journey through the experience of raising and partnering with guide dogs for the blind. Continue reading 2019 Next Stage Festival Review: Raising Stanley / Life With Tulia (Raising Stanley / Life with Tulia collective)