DISAPPEARING ACT

         "Adolphe Appia . . . believed that shade was as necessary as light to form a   connection between the actor and the setting of the performance in time and space. Through the use and control of light intensity, colour and manipulation, Appia created a new perspective of scene design and stage lighting."

Try to imagine a completely selfless act of egotism. It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but in the hands of a gifted storyteller it becomes a funny, poignant and vastly entertaining seventy-five minute journey through some of life’s most difficult, joyous, and memorable moments. Itai Erdal’s one-man show, How To Disappear Completely, is a brilliantly lit, beautifully written, and seamlessly performed monologue of scoreless operatic proportions that defy gravity as hilarious flights of fancy, alongside interactive segments filled with bravado and delightful self-assurance, pay homage to a life lived to the fullest.

Erdal’s connection to classic lighting design, bringing a variety of evocative shadows to any given drama, coupled with his desire to make documentary films, seep into the narrative and give the overall mise en scene a complex metaphoric quality that is at once haunting, wry, and utterly engaging.

Beginning with the admission that he is not an actor Erdal proceeds to prove that brilliant storytelling and high caliber acting are one in the same thing as he nonchalantly interacts with film footage of his mother, sister, and best friend during especially trying times. The sheer magnetism and charisma of all the characters on film, and Erdal’s own stage presence, turn this virtuoso solo performance into a gorgeous ensemble of memory, experience, and profound loyalty.

As part of Factory Theatre’s Annual Festival of Groundbreaking New Work, How to Disappear Completely is a perfect gem-like theatrical hybrid that summons and dismisses both light and darkness, literally and figuratively, with the flick of a switch. See for yourself - there will be shadows, follow spots, and heartwarming humility in the face of sheer confidence and skill as they interact with incredibly deep-seated familial bonds.

To describe the show in any more narrative detail would necessitate so many spoiler alerts that an actual review would disappear, completely…

running at Factory Theatre 

until May 13^th

Masterclass with Lighting Designer Itai Erdal

Experience an in-depth look into the unique artistic process of renowned lighting designer Itai Erdal!

Visiting Toronto with How to Disappear Completely at Factory Theatre (May 8-13), Erdal will give a masterclass on May 12, including a live demonstration and discussion of his lighting techniques. The Vancouver-based designer has garnered critical acclaim, working on productions in North America, Europe, and Israel.

"Lighting designer Itai Erdal does more with light and fog than most designers do with an entire set; indeed, his evocative and magical lighting will undoubtedly be one of the aspects of this production that lives on in the audience's memories."

- John Threlfall, Monday Magazine

“The professional insights of Erdal, who at times operates the lighting from the stage, are used to great effect to illuminate his story, becoming a metaphor for his experiences and for life’s big questions … he uses the medium he knows so intimately to transcend the private, and present theatre with universal resonance…"

- The Globe and Mail

Date: Saturday, May 12, 2012

Time: 2:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst Street)

Admission:   $25

or  $45 package with a ticket to How To Disappear (May 8-13, 2013)

Please call the Factory Box Office at 416-504-9971 or visit in person to reserve your tickets.

the game of

love and chance

only a few days left in the run of the riotous Canadian Stage production of

The Game of Love and Chance !!!

Marivaux’s classic comedy has been beautifully stylized and adapted by a production  team that has a fine understanding of how the commingling of past and present theatrical convention can create a crisp and delightful hybrid.

The six member cast takes on challenging physical comedy with a real flair for turning stock characters into a kind of contemporary pastiche of all that has come before. Zach Fraser’s Mario is a brilliant foppish amalgamation of everything from an Oscar Wilde effete to a bumbling, wordy sophisticate fresh from the throes of a Noel Coward romantic comedy. Traces of sharp commedia del arte physicality seep through all of the performances as Trish Lindstrom, William Webster, and Harry Judge deliver wonderfully focused characterizations.

Standout performances by Gemma James-Smith  and Gil Garratt as servants caught within class conflict and outrageous misalliance make the evening a raucous exercise in hilarious physical and emotional contortions - punctuating every word and deed with a contrived, amusingly elegant form of complex blocking. Moving both in and out of sync with their thoughts and actions they fill the stage with intense manic energy.

A few centuries ago, when Marivaux’s scripts were brand new, the form had already morphed through a number of theatrical influences. Matthew Jocelyn’s direction and Nicholas Billon’s translation are true to the anachronistic creative spirit that influenced classic French comedy as well as earlier genres across the channel (i.e. Shakespeare). Sets by Anick La Bissonière and costumes by Linda Brunelle render this Canadian Stage/Centaur Theatre collaboration a sleek, colourful, and laugh-filled tour de force that hits home the point that the game of love and chance hasn’t really changed all that much over the centuries.

running until may 12^th 

at the bluma appel theatre

HISTOIRE D'AMOUR

The recent Danceworks presentation of the Bouchardanse program Histoire d’amour was a lyrical, at times interactive journey through the throes of romantic loyalty, joy, and frolicking misadventure. Costumes by Cheryl Lalonde gave the evening a crisp, slightly dusty, beautifully faded sense of a kind of  timeless nostalgia - suggesting a variety of periods and faintly reminding one of Fragonard’s classic series of paintings The Progress of Love. With performers swaddled and drenched in stylized romantic lines, and at the outset, a kind of charming all white clown like garment, a sense of divine decadence filled the space and flirted with the imagination.

 Sylvie Bouchard et Brendan Wyatt. 

Photo: Joseph Michael Photography 

The presence of Christian Laurin as a robust and powerful narrator, capable of almost bouffant-like movement and facial expression, transformed the piece into a thoroughly engaging evening of dance theatre. Moving from ancient Greece through the middle ages and ending in explorations of the early modern period and the romantic era, the choreographers created a seamless flow through ideas around Platonic love, same sex coupling, courtship, melancholy, madness and excess.

At one point Laurin’s narrator character had him interacting in a playful way with the audience as spectators were asked to scribble one word emotions associated with their first love. These amorous emissions were then gathered by a selection of “love bunnies” and then interpreted in movement to the delight of one and all. Sylive Bouchard’s exquisite capacity for a rhythmic and staccato like movement of the limbs gave this sequence a grand comic elegance, while Brendan Wyattt’s expressive agility and his ability to engage with Bouchard in an effortless form of gentle athleticism marked portions of the program with a kind of buoyant, and at times explosive, gracefulness. And there was a bit of tastefully shrouded nudity for both performers to indulge in, and that is always pleasant at the best of times.

Gorgeous projections  by Ayelen Liberona, and simple moving screens by Cheryl Lalonde, framed the playing space with a strong interactive quality that drew one into the layered format of dance, acting, and evocative music (Thomas Ryder Payne). Lindsay Zier-Vogel’s writing/text editing was at once playful and informative, with a hint of improvised narrative space for the performer to move in and out of.

Ultimately, the evening was a belated Valentine’s Day missive for anyone interested in the ongoing spectacle of love - and all of the madness that it entails.

HISTOIRE D'AMOUR RAN AT HARBOURRONT 

AT THE ENWAVE THEATRE 

FROM MAY 3RD UNTIL MAY 5TH

^{BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!}

 

Dubbed the Citizen Kane of cheerleading movies by Roger Ebert, the film version of Bring It On (2000) starred Kirsten Dunst and spawned four direct to video sequels. The musical version, currently running at the Ed Mirvish theatre, is a spine-tingling action packed showcase for a hybrid musical form filled with athletic dance sequences of Olympic caliber and top notch performances by a young cast that brings new meaning to youth culture and the pursuit of extracurricular excellence.

 If you have fond memories of being frightened by the daredevil acts at the circus then this is the show for you. Past reviewers have suggested that the cast should rack up frequent flyer miles for the amount of time they spend soaring into the rafters during an abundance of gravity defying moments filled with sheer strength, power, and incredible grace. The young women in the chorus prove, with a vengeance, the old saying about Ginger Rogers having to do everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. There are moments when the sheer physical skill and magnitude of their awe-inspiring flights high above a bevy of young men waiting to catch them is hard to believe. Twists and turns in the air, back flips across the stage, and intricately choreographed numbers throughout give the two-hour extravaganza a thrilling fast paced energy achieved by a gifted cast of eighteen young men and women.

The story line is a familiar and effective rivalry narrative that reminds one of films like All About Eve - and during the sardonic competition based songs there are lyrical traces of the complex warring female relationships set to music in the ever popular Wicked . A standout performance by Ryann Redmond as Bridget and Gregory Haney as La Cienaga give the plot a strong, moving and hilarious outcast motif that has the two characters who don’t quite fit in excelling among a community of sympathetic and incredibly supportive comrades. 

Taylor Louderman, Kate Rockwell, Janet Krupin, Ariana DeBose, and Elle McLemore create a layered ensemble of loveable, self-proclaimed “beeyotches” as they define what could have been one-dimensional roles with superb vocal nuance and impressive physical prowess - singing and dancing their way through various forms of high school mayhem with a detailed, sharp witted talent for distinct characterization. Nicolas Womack’s Twig handles complex rap and hip hop elements with incredible articulation and a charming quirkiness that has him smirking, flirting, and bouncing through a fun-filled romantic scenario. And there is an outrageous and divine Leprechaun scene that gives Taylor Louderman’s immense skill as a dancer the opportunity to shine in a very cumbersome and delightful costume - bringing new meaning to the famous Muppet phrase “It isn’t easy being green.”

The music is infectious, diverse, impeccably performed and non-stop, with a mixture of styles that meld seamlessly into a powerful score. It’s all kind of like My Fair Lady on Mars with Henry Higgins as a female cheerleading coach and Eliza Doolittle as a bubbly teenybopper trying to make her way through a complex set of class, race, and gender circumstances. Well, not really - ultimately it’s a fresh and affirming type of athletic musical comedy that is sure to be a crowd pleasing experience - running at the Ed Mirvish Theatre until June 3^rd.

? DLROW LAER EHT / \ THE REAL WORLD ?

In dreams we do so many things
/ we set aside the rules we know / and fly the world so high
/ in great and shining rings
/ if only we could always live in dreams /
if only we could make of life
what, in dreams, it seems

                                                                      the real world (lyric)

Should or can playwrights truly "write what they know"? If they use their family members as characters in a play, whose play is it? Whose truth is it? And what happens when those family members stand up to their artist son and object to their theatrical selves? The Real World? remains a groundbreaking play about art, autobiography and authority.

  http://www.tarragontheatre.com/season/1112/the-real-world/

All through the current Tarragon theatre production of Michel Tremblay’s explosive

1980’s masterpiece The Real World? I kept thinking of the song of the same name, made famous by Roy Orbison, and how hauntingly beautiful the words and voice sounded to me when I first heard them so many years ago. Similarly, Tremblay’s play, over twenty years after its English language premiere, possesses a gorgeous, eerie intensity that throws a violent, stylized light upon some of the greatest taboos life has to offer.

Richard Rose’s direction goes full tilt as the staging, the set, the special effects and the performances create a truly dangerous atmosphere that proceeds to lay bare every emotion the characters have kept bottled up for years. A standout performance by Cliff Saunders as the meta-theatrical dad leaves one breathless during the impeccably choreographed final moments, matched by brilliant performances by the entire ensemble throughout this harrowing ninety-minute tour de force.

Meg Tilly delivers a mesmerizing performance, alongside Jane Spidell’s sharply focused and powerful portrayal of a woman cunningly trapped within dramas skillfully manipulated in order to maintain her grasp on a life she tries desperately to hold together. Matthew Edison as the writer and Tony Nappo as the father play off each other with impeccable timing and contrasting power as the strained familial unit trying to come to grips with a past that appears so different to all of the people who experienced it - together and apart. Sophie Goulet and Cara Gee as the bouncy go-go dancing daughter are superb as they hover over the action with an energetic detachment that moves gradually into controlled, full frontal emotion - aided by lively, detailed costumes by Charlotte Dean, giving the overall piece a kind of provocative nostalgic air.

Tremblay’s use of a play within a play, with a meta-theatrical twist, exposes memory as a fractured device both onstage and off. The Tarragon production does justice to this dynamic familial journey through the use of a kind of exploded naturalism that leaves one gasping for breath at the end of each character’s tigtly structured moment of monologic catharsis.

There are no small parts in this four character eight actor rapid-fire showcase for profound dysfunction as the audience is left with a dizzying sense of truth and fiction that provides no easy answers to some very painful questions. 

The Real World?, a quarter of a century later, continues to provide a powerful interrogation of how we sometimes tend to create a past and a present that are often at war with each other as we search for some kind of terribly imperfect truce - or lack thereof.

THE REAL WORLD RUNS AT TARRAGON THEATRE UNTIL JUNE 3RD 

SOULPEPPER

Maria Vacratsis plays Olga in the Soulpepper production of Moss Hart's and George S. Kaufman's classic comedy

YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU

Soulpepper’s current production of You Can’t Take It With You is a gem-like period comedy brought to life by a brilliant ensemble that hits every vibrant note of the classic Moss Hart George S. Kaufman vehicle with a grand resounding flair. Performances by Nancy Palk and Maria Vacratsis empower zany comedic roles with a fine sense of timing and physical nuance, while Diego Matamoros as the excitable Russian dance instructor takes a full blown caricature and turns it into an endearing study in fumbling idiosyncrasy. Vacratsis is especially memorable as a final outrageous punctuation to a comic plot that possesses exaggerated elements of Chekhovian dramaturgy. Her gorgeous costume by designer Christina Poddubiuk is matched by the layers of rich and emotive vocal skill that she inserts into the character of a displaced aristocrat at the mercy of a whacked out version of the American dream. All In the Family meets The Simpsons, Father Knows Best, with a touch of  Reba, Roseanne and I Love Lucy thrown into the mix.

What could have been a dusty old piece of  seventy-five year old American theatre becomes, under the fast-paced direction of Joseph Ziegler, a tour de force for seventeen actors in search of community within a loving, dysfunctional troupe of half-crazed characters. All of the class warfare peculiar to Chekhov’s special form of acute dramedy is trotted out within the impeccable confines of Poddubiuk’s naturalistic set, replete with serpent-laden aquariums and antique printing presses.

And if that’s not enough sharply focused, nostalgic entertainment for one evening, there’s Eric Peterson’s delightful performance as Grandpa to be marveled at. The sheer magnitude of characterization that he inserts into each word and gesture fills the stage with a quirky paternalistic framing device gone wrong - elevating the wit and wisdom of the piece to a kind of grand commentary on the evolution of a kind of North American economic prowess that came to roost over the course of a century that impolitely introduced income tax to the masses. Peterson bumbles through the throes of IRS investigations and romantic mayhem with an illogical form of rationality that boggles the mind and tickles the funny bone.

You Can’t Take It With You is a priceless comedy seamlessly crafted into an action packed look at past brushes with capitalism, commerce, and class mingling that continue to affect present plunges into worldwide madcapery.

running at the Young Centre (the Distillery District) through June

The river flowed both ways. The current moved from north to south, but the wind usually came from the south, rippling the bronze-green water in the opposite direction. This apparently impossible contradiction, made apparent and possible, still fascinated Morag, even after the years of river-watching.

The Diviners

Margaret Laurence

Set to the relentless, abruptly fluid beauty of Ann Southam’s music, the recent Toronto Dance Theatre production of Rivers was a truly multi-disciplinary event that offered up the very best from the worlds of music, choreography and design. Michael Levine’s gorgeous minimalist setting caught the eye immediately as a simple backdrop swept from floor to ceiling, providing the dancers with a haunting ground upon which to render the sharp, at times minute movement of limbs and nimble extremities that marked the latest offering from acclaimed choreographer Christopher House. 

At once individual, grand, and introverted, like small ripples on a vast aqueous surface, and then breaking into ensemble moments suggesting the more tumultuous, yet deceptively gradual movement of large rolling waves, Rivers, the music and the choreography, was a multi-layered examination of the agile abilities, both expansive and intricate, of water and the human body, as they interact with each other through evocative sound and physicalized metaphor.

The presence of internationally acclaimed pianist Christina Petrowska Qullico, an artist closely associated with Southam’s work, was a breathtaking addition to the visual and aural feast. With a powerful yet demure grace she took her position stage left with an intense aesthetic authority and flawless skill, both dividing and merging the viewer’s attention to the panoply of detail that both electrified and haunted the stage as bodies moved with close attention to a score that House feels demands that artists must “be very present in the moment.” Petrowska Qullico’s black gown was a dazzling touch that bespoke the simple glamour of a skilled musician immersed in the timelessness of great art and artfulness as she masterfully followed the multiple pages distributed like over-sized maps above her hands.

Ultimately, there was a deceptive austerity to the overall piece that moved in an out of light and shadow, both on and off of Levine’s gorgeous central playing space, as the dancers took the idea of water and the river and, in the words of another great Canadian artist, made it move both ways.

RIVERS RAN AT THE FLECK DANCE THEATRE, HARBOURFRONT, FROM APRIL 25^TH UNTIL APRIL 28TH