Continuing this week….
IMPACT21
Plays until Oct. 9, 2021.
On-line and in person, in Kitchener, Ont. Hosted by MT Space.
This is a theatre-film festival of bracing, challenging work that is local (Kitchener—a lot of talent there); National (Esie Mensah, Red Sky Performance etc.); and International. The latter has work from Chile, India, Tunisia and Australia. The festival provides stories and experiences from other cultures. Always fascinating.
As You Like It (by William Shakespeare) A Radical Retelling by Cliff Cardinal
Plays until Oct. 17, 2021.
In-person at the Streetcar Crowsnest, Guloien Theatre, 345 Carlaw Ave. Toronto, Ont.
From the Crow’s Theatre:
“Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” As You Like It William Shakespeare.
The title of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It holds a double meaning that famously teases, this is a play to please all tastes. For this world premiere, acclaimed Indigenous creator Cliff Cardinal (Stitch, Huff, and Cliff Cardinal’s CBC Special) has promised to do something just like that. His radical retelling of Shakespeare’s comedy will launch the Crow’s Theatre 2021-22 Season.
Cast will be announced at each performance.”
Blindness
Plays until Oct. 24, 2021.
In person at the Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto, Ont.
Based on the Jose Saramago novel.
Adapted by Simon Stephens
Directed by Walter Meierjohann
With the voice of Juliet Stevenson
The citizens of an unnamed city are struck with a plague of blindness, except the wife of the doctor treating many of them. The people are herded up and taken to an abandoned mental institution ‘for safekeeping.’
The production is a light and sound experience. The audience wears earphones and hears the show. The technique of hearing the sound in one ear, then the other, then around the room is astonishing. It’s as if someone is whispering in your ear. You hesitate to turn your head quickly to see them for fear of hitting them in the nose with your face.
A stunning experience.
Friday, Oct. 8 to Oct. 30, 2021.
Fire Hall Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Gananoque.
Serving Elizabeth
Written by Marcia Johnson
Directed by Marcel Stewart
“Mercy, a Kenyan independence activist, is asked to cook for the visiting princess Elizabeth, who turns out to have a few surprises of her own. Sixty years later, the making of a TV series about the royal family causes more than a few culture clashes for a young Kenyan-Canadian production intern. A fresh, funny, and smart new play about colonialism, monarchy, and who is serving whom.”
What is particularly noteworthy here is that Marcia Johnson, who wrote the play, is also playing Mercy. Looking forward to seeing this.
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Beloved Portland artist Anthony Hudson (in drag, as Carla Rossi) heads up this performative walking tour of downtown Portland s Harvey Milk corridor, formerly known as Vaseline Alley . Meet at the corner of SW h and SW Stark (in front of Living Room Theaters) and venture out on an extensive tour exploring the region’s now-vanished spaces for Queer embodiment and culture. The Maker s Fair, Portland Mercado s Moles and Stews Festival, Portland Open Studios, and More Last-Minute Things To Do Under $15