Pinocchio @ Young People's Theatre

I don’t get to see TYA as much as I’d like to these days, now that I’m no longer teaching, and my daughter is no longer in the target audience. I had almost forgotten how magical these shows can be.

Sheila McCarthy’s production is pure joy; the new adaptation by Neil Bartram is a largely smart and funny musical; there are a few songs/scenes that I personally think could face the chopping block…but on the whole it is quite strong. The show moves at a formidable pace , and kept the room full of youngsters on a Saturday afternoon engaged. It is always a good sign to me when a young audience vocalize their engagement in a script, responding out loud to the things happening on stage — which happened in this show. Particularly fun were the conniving Fox and Cat, played beautifully by Joel Cumber and Arinea Hermans.

Julie Tomaino’s choreography deserves a special shout-out — it was high energy, and created beautiful movement to enliven the many locales that the story is told from.

The sets and costumes were the real stars here. Joanna Yu’s whimsical design had many moments of pure awe — from early scenes carving Pinocchio, to Pinocchio’s nose, to later scenes to create water and the inside of the whale. You could feel the sense of wonder that this inspired in the young audience (and honestly, in me too).

Finally, the Saturday performance I attended included a short talkback from the cast, which included them asking questions of the audience — a great way to begin a talkback and help engage the young audience who had just sat so quiet and engaged for 75 minutes!

I definitely recommend taking the young people in your life to see this magical show.

review. Blood + Soil by Rouvan Silogix - Theatre ARTaud @ TPM Backspace

Theatre ARTaud present an ambitious new work, straddling political commentary and surrealism (which, if we’re honest, is that political commentary nowadays?). The new play, Blood + Soil, begins with the chorus as the audience enter, interacting and tempting the audience, while a devil-like character lurks. As we move in to the play, we’re presented with a parable about a small city in Canada who choose to secede, only to repeat the mistakes of the past in their own implementation and exertion of power and ownership.

I had mixed reactions to the piece. On one hand, I adored the clever playfulness of the chorus, and the intelligent commentary on current affairs as told through the parable. There were some very enjoyable performances, notably the riveting Amaka Umeh who plays Snowball, one of the lead revolutionaries. Additionally, the ongoing live accompaniment from Ivana Popovic served to create wonderful tension in the live performance.

On the other hand, I found the overall style of the production to be abrasive; there were a lot of scenes shouted, and although alienation is one of the basic tenets of Artaud’s work and much surrealist theatre, in a story-based performance such as this, I don’t think this was the specific alienation they were looking to achieve.

On the whole, I think the script could have used some tightening; there were a number of interesting and insightful observations created through the physical and verbal language of the performance, including some really stunning (and at times, shocking) imagery. Yet It left me with the feeling that it didn’t quite achieve its own goals.

Definitely a production that will challenge you intellectually in ways unlike what you will find from a lot of other performance in the city, so worth checking out if you’re looking for that stimulation.

review. The Chemical Valley Project - Broadleaf Theatre @ Theatre Passe Muraille

This is a late-arriving blog post, with my regrets. I caught a Saturday matinee of The Chemical Valley Project the other week; I was immediately intrigued by the welcoming nature of the space, with the lead actor speaking to each audience member as they entered, and inviting them on to the performance space to look at additional photos from the research on the project. If one had come to the show without a lot of context (as my two friends had) this would have been a touch confusing, but also intriguing. Certainly, though, it set a really great tone for the afternoon and the information and experience we were about to share.

The play focuses on the research journey of one actor/creator as he explored information relating to The Chemical Valley in the Sarnia region, and particularly in reference to two first nations people who supported and guided his journey. The script held a lot of information, which could very well have been overwhelming, however on the whole it was not. The staging and use of video to hear the actual voices of the indigenous guides was unique, and useful in terms of ensuring that it wasn’t someone else appropriating their story and experience. All of that said, for me the script & production felt a bit disjointed; almost like there were too many topics, as the manner in which they were organized left me feeling like there were a lot of starting points that weren’t always clearly connected to one another. What was the story this was ultimately trying to tell?

That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it; the visual aspects were really beautiful and the use of the space was inventive. My bigger qualm was with the style of the performance - after setting up a beautiful, relaxed, non-performative style in the pre-show, the performance itself felt forced and ultimately did a disservice to the material, for me. I simply wanted the actor to exist in the space, with the aid of some clever staging (seriously, the use of scale was magnificent), to share this journey with me. It didn’t need anything else.

All that said, I definitely recommend seeing it if it has a re-mount.

review. The Shimmering Verge by Molly Peacock

I always like the adventure of finding a show at a place I am not familiar with. You open the door, and immediately are immersed in a new world. Director Karthy Chin creates a warm and enveloping space, with interesting positioning and intrigue in the objects, where we first are greeted with a poetry reading. Each night features a reading from a different local poet, which made for a unique positioning of the play that follows. It may, in part, have been due to the skill and engagement of the reader (I saw the divine Anne Michaels) but the reading, with the words just falling through the air, without accoutrement was thrilling and emotional.

The play itself was performed with dexterity by Madeleine Brown, in that delightful set, and accompanied by sound design from electronic musician Laura Dickens. For me, although the script was interesting and the performance highly enjoyable, the production felt crowded. While I enjoyed the light elements and sound elements, at times it felt like there were too many things going on at once that it stifled the air for the poetry to breathe on its own. Heightened text is always a challenge, and for my taste, I prefer to give it more space. That said, it was an engaging production, and highly enjoyable to take in. I definitely recommend checking out this ambitious work by a young company for the quality of the work and performance. They have 4 more shows between April 11 and April 13.

review. Unsafe by Sook-Yin Lee @ Canadian Stage

The funny thing is, I never felt unsafe. I felt that this discussion, this demand for interrogation of censorship, of what censorship even means, was and is so urgently necessary. Who gets the commissions? Whose voice is heard? Whose perspective is excluded.

Sook-Yin Lee’s Unsafe is an exploration of these topics, using her skills and notoriety as a journalist and provocateur to delve into a series of interviews. The interviews are clearly edited; we see the cuts, the fast forwards in the video. She speaks of things that happen that she can’t share the details of, because permission was taken away, or never granted in the first place. The meta-journey through the creation of the piece, through the relationship of these two artists to the work and to each other, is familiar. Initially set up as a quiz show or ted talk, the play worked best, when it veered from that format of a staged discussion and into a representative world, one where theatricality was the most important, and if drama happened, so be it.

The ingenious staging from Sarah Garton Stanley served to amplify the right moments, and to highlight for us that the performance was self-aware. The images and movement about the stage were delightful, using the space in the Berkeley Street Theatre to its utmost potential to shape-shift into different worlds that were all a part of Lee’s intellect.

The conversation about censorship has moved underground, so to speak; it isn’t overt, in shutting down shows, but rather in the very funding models and commissioning models and support models that exist in this country for making new work. Lee’s interrogation really underscored (for me, anyway) the frustration that the topic, although a worthy one, was first offered to one White Guy, and then to Another. I’m grateful that the second one accepted, and brought in a new perspective…and then stepped back at just the right moment to let this work shine in the way it needed to. No offence to Zack Russell, but this isn’t a topic for a traditional play.

It was certainly interesting to watch this highly theatrical interpretation, right on the heels of watching the Forced Entertainment “Speak Bitterness” livestream, which was on the very opposite end of the theatricality spectrum, vehemently and insistently un-theatrical.

Again, I didn’t feel unsafe, perhaps because I’m the very generation of artist who grew up watching Sook-Yin Lee on Much Music. Exploring, provoking, experimenting…and just existing as a wonderfully quirky and unapologetic artist in space, with a lot of questions. Who, at least in some part, was inspired (or provoked) by Lee’s edgy and demanding nature, to make the work I do. Unsafe just reminded me that the teen in someone’s basement in suburban Winnipeg, watching Much Music with her friends, isn’t too far away. And she hopes that the people who needed to see this, and needed to think about these things, did. And will continue to do so.

review. A Blow in the Face - Bald Ego & Nightwood @ Theatre Centre

Postpartum depression is a challenging topic to talk about in a truly theatrical manner. How do you represent an experience that most women experience in some manner, but which differs for each experience of it, in a manner that will be sufficiently specific while simultaneously relatable? Lisa Ryder’s script is one of the best efforts at this I have seen. It begins in a fairly normal-looking home; a couple are dealing with a new baby, husband needs to leave for a couple weeks for work, there are household things to do on top of the all-consuming baby care. Quickly we spin into a weird and zany world where two aliens are representative of the weird, sometimes funny, sometimes dangerous ideas that creep around in a new mother’s brain.

Monica Dottor’s direction is beautifully choreographed; the three lead performers are deft in their physicalization, so deeply rooted in their bodies that the strange and highly stylized movements seem completely natural, allowing the audience to slip into the mind and world of Alice, the new mother. It is weird. It is funny. It is wonderful. At a snappy 70 minutes, it leaves you satisfied, rarely with a moment to stop and breathe with its frenetic pace. Rather like motherhood itself…

A Blow In The Face runs to April 14, do catch it if you can.

review. Salt by Selina Thompson @ Progress Festival (Theatre Centre)

Selina Thompson’s Salt strikes you (and some Salt) from the first moment of the piece. It is a play, yes, and a performance — simultaneously highly theatrical through its representative nature, and anti-theatrical in its lack of performative qualities (don’t worry — this is a good thing). Thompson speaks to the audience as if there were only two people in the room, but also fills the space with her power and thoughts, with enough energy to pack an arena.

The piece is a re-telling of her journey by sea to re-claim the routes and places associated with the transatlantic slave trade; the colonial power exertion that built and maintains the structures of power in place today. This sounds heavy, and at times it was, but there was an overwhelming sense of lightness, too. Thompson is an expert storyteller, weaving the dark and rightfully angry with the light; some of my favourite moments were the contrasts between her painful struggle with history and her often funny, completely relatable struggle with explaining her present journey to her father, and ensuring he knows she is safe (when at times she really is not).

The direction (Dawn Walton) and sound design (Sleepdogs) were superb, and complimented Thompson’s script & performance perfectly. She has been touring this show for a couple years now, and I strongly recommend you see it if you can. It has now been over 2 weeks since I saw it, and certain images and moments continue to creep into my memory day to day. That’s evidence of a truly remarkable piece of art.

review. Top Girls by Caryl Churchill @ Alumnae Theatre

Full disclosure, I was offered a comp to this show by the luminescent Lisa Lenihan who played Isabella Bird / Mrs Kidd.

I remember the first time I read Top Girls. Admittedly, at that point I had not read many plays that weren’t Shakespeare or a musical, so something that played with form and reality and lucidity so actively was a shock to my system. In fact, if I am totally honest, I seem to recall not really liking it. Mostly because on the surface, I just didn’t GET it. University being what it is, I had to keep reading and thinking and working on it and as I dove into unearthing just what the heck was going on in this play, the more it grew on me and I came to recognize the images in the play as manifestations of things I had felt or experienced.

The Alumnae production began with some interesting directorial choices. Doors that had cut outs of powerful female shapes in the design, which were re-built into various set pieces; showing women as the literal building blocks of this world, but passively so. A young female dancer moving through the space off the top, and also between scenes provided lovely imagery, but it did feel peripheral to the storytelling for me.

The performances were at times strong, but at times it felt uneven…one of the challenging aspects of Churchill’s text is the overlap of talking. How does one achieve this feeling of natural female conversation, but without having the actors competing and shouty at one another? For a director this is a huge challenge, and one that only at times was conquered in this production.

The overall interpretation of the play felt quite literal, which is likely the source of the challenges I felt the production faced. Each actor did well enough with the work, it just failed to come together as a cohesive whole for me.

review. #kanderandebb by Ryan G. Hinds @ Toronto Fringe

Ryan G. Hinds is an absolute delight. His one-man homage to iconic musical theatre writers Kander and Ebb (of Chicago, Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman...you know, all the good musicals) is a 60 minute tour de force. Hinds is magnetic as he shares personal stories of a life obsessed with and then living the dream of performing musical theatre. The show is fun and silly while also being serious musical theatre performance. Hinds really showed his skill, when after noticing in the first song the mic wasn't working, he adapted quickly, vamping with jokes while the tech team ran a corded mic cable, then picked up as if NOTHING had happened. You would have sworn the show was always performed mic-in-hand.

The show has been to a few festivals now. If it comes to your city, I can guarantee there isn't a better way to spend an hour. 

review. Musik für das Ende @ Soundstreams

I'm a pretty massive supporter of theatrical experiences that blur the lines between genre and play with audience expectations, so when I learned of Soundstreams' production, conceived by Chris Abraham and Zack Russell around the music of French Canadian composer Claude Vivier, I was intrigued. Vivier's compositions are chilling and unexpected. Any theatrical experience created surrounding these would definitely be unique and challenging. 

The production, staged in The Crow's Theatre main space, is in the round, with banks of audience along each of the 4 sides, with a cavernous space in the middle, reaching up to the heights of the flexible theatre space. The physical space is used to great effect, with many objects and lights descending from the heights of the room, and with superb lighting design to transform and bring the audience into the experience of the performance. It opens with a monologue in which Vivier returns home to find his door open; slowly the seemingly linear story blips out of line, and we realize that some of the references were outside of what we thought were the main story. The sound design throughout this first section is clever, amplifying certain everyday sounds and providing a glimpse into what the world might sound like to a composer, the rhythm and metre of every day sounds standing out in a chorus of relation to one another. 

From here, the piece moves into the performance and staging of Vivier's own compositions Glaubst du an die Unsterblichkeit der Seele, and Musik für das Ende. The vocal performances are outstanding, and initially the staging, with Vivier intervening, as if watching this in a dream, is very engaging. However, for me, the latter parts of the staging, with the singers moving around the space singing to one another, despite beautiful vocal performances and stunning lighting design, was lacklustre. Rather than showcasing the beautiful singing and hypnotic nature of the composition, it seemed to drag, and ultimately detract from the engagement the audience could have with the music. 

Definitely worth seeing and experiencing, but I think that the shape of the production could benefit from a re-think to ensure it does not lose the momentum of the first two section. 

4.48 psychosis by Sarah Kane - Trailer

Beautiful trailer filmed and edited by Alana McNeill, with audio by John Norman. Featuring Elizabeth Whitbread. 

Catch us at Toronto Fringe July 5-15 and Winnipeg Fringe July 19-30.

thoughts. Art school privilege

A recently released study has indicated that almost 70% of students entering Toronto's public art-focused high schools identify as white, and predominantly come from wealthier households, which as you can imagine, has called into question not only the admissions process, but the courses themselves. I don't think that it takes a lot of inquiry to identify the root causes of this problem: first, accessibility to the key genres of art that are assessed in the admissions process, and second, accessibility (and reality) of the ability to create and sustain a career in the arts if you do not come from a position of privilege. 

Lets deal with the first point; what is taught. Art schools tend to admit students who have a pre-identified strength in an area, whether it be music, dance, visual art, and the criteria for these strengths lends itself to favour those who have had some kind of training. How, for example, could someone with no formal training in dance walk comfortably into an audition and succeed? It would be only those students who hold a particularly adept natural skill, and a significant amount of courage or self confidence. Thus as you can imagine, the first obstacle of having the courage is then met by the second obstacle of appropriate preparation, which then, if those hurdles are cleared, there is, of course, standing out in a room full of skilled and at least partially trained performers. Is it any wonder that the admitted students skew toward higher income households, where they are more likely to have access to training? When siting across that table as an audition panel, how much are we looking for a partially moulded pre-trained package, versus someone whose talent is raw and untouched, but will need a lot of work?  It is so easy to default to those who already have some of the skills as a baseline, rather than give the public school opportunity to the kid who wouldn't otherwise afford to get music or dance or art lessons? 

Even if we look past those hurdles, and wipe that clean, interest in those more traditional fields is an issue; if someone is a street artist, is their work going to be accepted or valued the same? What about someone who can't play piano or violin, but can work a TR8 like no one's business, and can compose music like you've never heard before? Or what about someone whose work is multidisciplinary? This is often something that even as adults is just beginning to be valued and encouraged, so is it being encouraged amongst middle schoolers applying to these stringent application criteria? 

This in part leads us to the second point: feasibility. I grew up in a family where a career in the arts was something of a pipe dream, and where my own growth, education, and access was slowed by the fact that I couldn't simply afford to do free apprenticeships, volunteer my time, or go on a tour for months for a couple thousand dollars. When you grow up in a space where there are few working artists around you, and where there is no safety net enabling you to "focus only on your art" and not have a backup, your ability to develop as an artist, to take advantage of all the "emerging artist" platforms that might require you not to work another job or to fly to another city (on your own dime) are just not open to you. So if you're 13 years old, and looking at your future....does this seem reasonable? And as a parent of a 13 year old, no matter how much talent or how big the dreams of your child are, won't you want them to have something more reliable and steady that can ensure they are fed and clothed and safe as they enter adulthood? How likely are you to encourage this career path, starting at a specialized high school?  

We need to do more for kids. We need to provide better public school art education from very early on. I can directly associate my own perserverence as an artist (and success, if you can call it that) to a few early connections I made. I had an amazing music teacher in elementary school, and then had an amazing opportunity to create a brand new musical whilst still in primary school with professional artists who had just come from Ukraine. As I got older, I was lucky enough to get dance training, but even that was at a huge cost to my parents who were working non stop to give us those opportunities. I recognize the good fortune and privilege I have had in that regard, and also acknowledge that it was a lot less than those around me. 

We cannot allow young artists with something to say to be silenced simply due to access, and pretend to call our system "public" education. The admissions process as well as the content of courses requires serious examination to ensure the continued validity of these programs. Their necessity doesn't need proving. 

review. The Orange Dot by Sean Dixon @ Theatrefront

It is less common than you'd think to see a piece of new Canadian writing that is as highly stylized as Sean Dixon's The Orange Dot. Borrowing a structure from Beckett's Waiting For Godot and Ionesco's The Lesson, Dixon has created a world which is not as it seems, in which inane conversation and repetition, two classic absurdist techniques, are made to seem normal, until suddenly they aren't. Discussions of pop culture and daily city life, the back and forth banter of Joe and Nat, seem like an inane play at first, leaving the audience wondering why they are bothering, and yet we stay, we watch. Slowly the world starts to crumble, and the inane begins to be more clear, but by time we realize it is happening, things are well off course and deep into the absurd. 

That is the thing that is most difficult about the absurdist style. How can the shifts away from normalcy be clear and concise, and yet not telegraph to the audience what lies ahead? This debut production, directed by Vikki Anderson, struggles somewhat with those shifts. The early shifts out of the recognizable world and into the absurd were less clear in my view, than they ought to have been; rather than causing the audience to begin to question what they are watching, they served to contribute to confusion. It is a delicate balance to manifest the verfremmdungseffekt I believe is central to achieving this in a production, and at least in the performance I saw, it wasn't quite there. 

That said, overall the performances from Shawn Doyle and Daniela Vlaskalic were quite good, with Doyle standing out until the final moments when Vlaskalic came into her full and truthful range. Earlier scenes didn't always link up from a stylistic perspective, with Vlaskalic putting on a folksy overdrawn accent that she shifted in and out of throughout scenes. Again, I think this comes down to clarify of the shifts in the world of the play; some finer subtlety in these shifts would have helped to enable the audience to think about the play and the message more clearly, rather than simply wonder what was going on in these moments. 

Definitely a script worth seeing, and the difficulties i list above are likely to be worked out through continued performance as the production settles into itself later in the run. 

thoughts. She knows what it means

Walking through the bowels of Dundas station, early on a Tuesday morning. The man sits, legs crossed, at the edge of the stairs. People pass by. He talks to them. It mostly makes no sense, and they mostly walk by. Ignoring him. 

She looks his direction, catches his eye. She smiles. He is a human, a person, after all. 

"Ah, she knows what it means to paint herself in black". This pierces through the space as morning commuters rush by. 

This sits with her for the rest of the day. It feels like a compliment. But she's not sure why. 

project. Auditions for commonplacetheatre's 2017 Season

I'm extremely excited to share that I will be directing a new play by Crystal Wood called Grief Circus for commonplacetheatre's 2017 season, which marks the company's Toronto debut. 

I'm particularly excited, as I had the great pleasure of directing a short reading of Grief Circus a few years ago for Sarasvati FemFest. I loved the script then, and was thrilled to be offered to direct a full production now. 

We are holding auditions for all 3 plays that make up the season on Jan 14, 15, 16. 

For Grief Circus specifically, I am looking to cast the following roles. Actors of all backgrounds are encouraged to audition. 

Leah - female, plays 15-20
Jessie - female, plays 17-20
Carol - female, plays mid 40's
Charlie - male, 21
Reporter - male, 40's

For more about commonplacetheatre, the season, and to book your time visit their website.

review. Indigenous Dance Double Bill @ Native Earth Performing Arts

Toronto's Native Earth Performing Arts have embarked on a new journey, presenting a double bill of dance-based works as a departure from their traditionally theatre-based productions. The show consisted of two hour-long performances which differed quite considerably. 

The first piece, Luu hlotitxw: Spirit Transforming was a traditionally based performance set initially to drum beats and traditional singing. It morphed into the use of video and soundscapes, along with a highly theatrical usage of masks to tell a story of a young man who loses his way, and finds it again through reconnecting with tradition. While the story is captivating, and the choice to weave in the 3 methods of storytelling is interesting to watch, unfortunately the 3 languages of storytelling felt disjointed from one another, so it felt like there was a bit of guess work from the audience. That said, there were some beautiful moments of realization and surprise for the audience, so it is certainly a piece I would love to see continue to be refined. 

Karina Iraola in NGS (Native Girl Syndrome) - Credit Marc J Chalifoux

The second piece, NGS (Native Girl Syndrome) contrasted considerably. It was performed by two young women in a space littered with garbage and the contents of their carts. An abrasive and somewhat contradictory soundscape played counter balance to the images of these women who were sad and lonely, clearly isolated. As the piece progressed, there were some stunning images they created with the objects around them. In particular, as one dancer rolled across the floor in beautiful choreography, covered in a large clear plastic sheet, it was difficult not to have images of young womens' bodies being pulled from the river in my home town of Winnipeg. The work was challenging to watch, but highly necessary. My only qualm is dramaturgical; I felt the piece could have shortened just slightly, to increase its impact. 

review. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre @ Sony Centre Toronto

I have long coveted the seemingly superhuman strength of dancers in Alvin Ailey's company, since first seeing photographs of their work when still a student. Having not seen them before, I jumped at the chance to see them when they toured recently to Toronto. The company certainly lived up to their reputation. Performing a mix of 4 pieces -- two older, and two very recent -- the programme and performances demonstrated the history as well as the future of this dynamic company. Contrary to many classical companies, wherein the large group dancing are so highly synchronized, that they merge into a single body, this company's strength is that it is a collection of individuals dancing together, but not in perfect harmony. 

When moving into solo work, this individualism and personal artistry shines even further. The storytelling through movement was compelling, and carried itself to the back of the Sony Centre. 

Most notable within the programme was the second to last piece, Exodus, which was a recent addition to the repertoire (in 2015). Working with a piece of custom and highly contemporary house music, the story and choreography merged beautifully with the music, to reach a stunning climax. 

Should you have the chance, I strongly recommend you see the company.