Lynn

Live and in person at the Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre, London, England and the Wales Millennium Centre.

Written by Hamed and Hessam Amiri

Adapted for the stage by Phil Porter

Directed by Amit Sharma

Set and costumes by Hayley Grindle

Lighting by Amy Mae

Sound and co-composer, Tic Ashfield

Songwriter and co-composer, Elaha Soroor

Video designer, Hayley Egan

Cast: Shamail Ali

Houda Echouafni

Dana Haquoo

Farshid Rokey

Ahmad Sakhi

Elaha Soroor (singer)

Gut-wrenching.

The play opens in Afghanistan. Fariba (Houda Echouafni) is fed up with the way women are treated by the ruling Taliban so she decides to make a speech in the market place. She is nervous but her supportive family: husband Mohammed (Dana Haqjoo) and three sons, Hamed (Farshid Rokey), Hussein (Ahmad Sakhi) and Hessam  (Shamail Ali) all support her. She makes the speech. People applaud. Then that night the Taliban come banging on their door. They want Fariba. It’s not for a cup of tea.

The family has to leave immediately and thus begins a journey of 18 months of running, hiding, paying handlers to take them to safety through many countries, in many trucks, the trunks of cars etc.  being cheated, frightened, terrified, lost, and all the while together. Fiercely together.

There is a further problem. At 14-years-old, Hussein (the oldest child) has a serious heart problem. It’s hoped the family will finally find its way to England for safe haven and medical help. Hussein is the one who keeps bolstering the spirits of his younger brothers.

The title of the book, written by two of the brothers, Hamed and Hessam Amiri, describes first Hussein’s damaged heart and his other heart, the spiritual one, the one that beats strong and keeps being hopeful, tenacious and full of resolve. Hussein, (a lovely, sensitive performance by Ahmad Sakhi) always calmly urges his brothers on. He tries to allay his parents’ fears about his health. He has episodes in which his can’t breathe and nearly passes out.

When they finally find sanctuary in England Hussein is given medical treatment including a pacemaker. It lasts for seven years. He goes to university and graduates with a degree in management studies. The family is together and thriving. And then his heart fails. Devastating.

At the end of that play is the incredible resolve of that family. Through all the hardship they endured, they give thanks for the people who helped them, even one handler who changed from almost cheating them, to promising to help them and he came through. Astonishing. To go through that hell of 18 months and still be optimistic, hopeful, have feelings of thankfulness is a lesson to us all.

Elaha Soroor is a constant presence in the production. She sings various songs whose translations are projected on the walls of the theatre. They are of resolve, love, nature and poetic musings. She stands off from the action in a crème-coloured costume of a loose-fitting jacket and pants. The songs provide tone and an atmosphere.

Amit Sharma’s direction is very movement based with the group of five actors moving almost in balletic movements as they scurry across the stage suggesting flight, hiding, etc. In one instance the family are crouched in the back of a truck in a small space surrounded by boxes (this is all suggested). Dialogue is projected on a back wall that says the air is compressed in that space. A black screen is lowered and the family lays flat on their fronts. Then the screen gets lower and lower and the family lay flatter, gasping for breath. Harrowing.

When Hussein has his attacks, a light is focused on him as Ahmad Sakhi writhes and twitches, gulping air that isn’t there until he collapses. Often animated projections are flashed on the back wall, such as a truck rocking over rough terrain, suggesting the difficulty of travel.

Often one of the actors playing a son does a movement away from the group, a jacket is put on him, and he turns into another character—a threatening guard, a handler etc. It’s done with efficiency and an elegant dance-like movement. Just as easily, the jacket is taken off the actor and he reverts to the son again.

Moving story and production.

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Live and in person at the Donmar Warehouse, London, Eng. Limited run to Dec. 3, 2022. 1 hour 40 minutes, no intermission.

Music and lyrics by David Yazbek

Book by Itamar Moses

Directed by Michael Longhurst

Musical supervisor, Nigel Lilley

Designer, Soutra Gilmour

Lighting by Anna Watson

Sound by Paul Groothuis

Choreographer, Movement and Intimacy Director, Yarit Dor

Video Designer, Zakk Hein

Musical Director, Tarek Merchant

Cast: Alon Moni Aboutboul

Sargon Yelda

Sharif Afifi

Carlos Mendoza De Hevia

Miri Mesika

Marc Antolin

Harel Glazer

Michal Horowicz

Peter Polycarpou

Levi Goldmeier

Yali Topol Margalith

Maya Kristal Tenenbaum

Ido Gonen

Ashley Margolis

And the brilliant Band:

Andy Findon-Woodwind

Ant Romeo-Percussion

Idlir Shyti-Cello

Baha Yetkin-Oud

Nicki Davenport-Double Bass

Luke Baxter-Percussion

Ah what a difference a letter makes in a name. The Alexandrian Ceremonial Police Orchestra from Egypt, was booked to play at the opening ceremonies of the Egyptian Cultural Centre in Pet Hatikva. They arrived by plane with their instruments wearing their smart, powder blue uniforms, waiting to be met. No one came. So, one of them was instructed to go to the ticket office and get a bus ticket. He did. They arrived in Bet Hatikva. The wrong place by one letter.

In Bet Hatikva, they are told by the residents there, all they do is wait for something to happen. Bet Hatikva is nowhere. Nothing happens there. There is a block of flats and a café and perhaps a pub. But they wait. Bet Hatikva “B” as in Bull Shit, “Boring”. Etc.

“Waiting” is a mournful, slow number that sets up the tone, pace, idea, attitude and sense of longing of the place. It’s sung by the residence who wait. It’s wonderful, funny and moving.

Dina (Miri Mesika) owns the café. Tewfiq (Alon Moni Aboutboul) is the prim, proper conductor. He graciously asks her to see when the next bus is. She makes a call. The next bus is the next day. There is no hotel. But the band is invited to stay with various residence, and Dina opens the café so they can also rest there. The Israelis and the Egyptians eye each other with a cool respect. Tewfiq instructs his orchestra to be respectful and proper at all times because they are representing their country and their orchestra. I loved that.

The residents and the musicians bond over music, food and similar stories. Dina and Tewfiq have individual troubled backgrounds and of course it looks like they can bond into something more serious, even after one day. They tell their stories gradually. Dina sings the music of a popular singer in Egypt. People joined by the love of music.

I love this musical—really a play with music–that so captures the life of longing and waiting, the hopes of something better, music that soothes the soul. And the ‘orchestra’ plays music from Egypt that is thrilling, vibrant, lively and as brisk as the songs of the residents of this poky Israeli town is slow, somber, and mournful.

The acting is wonderful. As Dina, Miri Mesika is sultry, watchful, gently sarcastic and has a strong voice that makes her songs soar. As Tewfiq, the very correct conductor of the orchestra, Alon Moni Aboutboul is the embodiment of a man who has the weight of his country and orchestra on his sturdy shoulders. When he sings a song of moonlight it is deeply felt. His voice is deep and rich and when he finishes it is with a sigh, and a snap down of his jacket to smooth it out. Loved that touch. When he thanks Dina for her kindness to let them stay, his voice cracks a touch with emotion, that just startled me. This wonderful show is full of such moments.

Michael Longhurst directs with a fine sense of the starkness of the place. Much of the action is done on a revolve in which furniture is put on it to represent a home. People crowd into it. Other areas of Soutra Gilmour’s set are long levels at the back where the band sits etc. They are grey, like the place.

But the message is of friendship, music, bonding, healing, awareness of the other and the power of how a song can lift an aching heart. The absolute best way of beginning a short London trip.

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Procrastination is a terrible thing. I waited so long to ‘comment’ on this challenging play, that it closed Oct. 2. I am chastened. I hope.

But the play deserves comment because I hope it will have another life after tightening.

Written by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Based on an idea by Alisa Palmer, Vita Brevis Arts

Directed by Alisa Palmer

Set by Jung-Hye Kim

Costumes by Ming Wong

Lighting by Leigh Ann Vardy

Composed and sound by Chris Ross-Ewart

Projections by HAUI

Cast: Jacklyn Francis

Andrew Iles

Mike Shara

Eva Foote

Micah Woods

Amelia Sargisson

Wahsonti:io Kirby

Gordon Patrick White

Sarah Dodd

Scott Wentworth

And others…

In Hamlet-911 Ann-Marie MacDonald creates characters, all of whom need emergency attention—911 in other words. Guinness Menzies (Mike Shara) is a television star on a vampire series and he is playing Hamlet at a place that looks a lot like the Stratford Festival. His father Rex Menzies (Scott Wentworth) is an illustrious actor at that very place and had played Hamlet before. (I love the impish cheek of Ann-Marie MacDonald to name this towering actor, Rex—Latin for ‘King’.) Guinness had a lot to live up to. Guinness is married to a young wife, Sue (Amelia Sargisson). She thinks Guinness might be having an affair with Jenna (Eva Foote), who is playing Ophelia in Hamlet. When the production needs a Gertrude, they ask Guinness’ mother, Jessica (Sarah Dodd) to play her. She says she’s too old (!) and they ask Sue to play her (!). Added to this is a fragile minded teen named Jeremy (Andrew Iles), who is coming to see the matinee of the show and wants to ask Guinness some questions about the character and play. Guinness doesn’t do talk-backs. Jeremy waits for an answer to an e-mail to Guinness and that is not forthcoming. Jeremy is so alone, his parents are hectoring and he contemplates suicide.

There is a lot to unpack in this play, perhaps too much. I love the uncertainty of Guinness in whether he can play such a huge part. He has the weight of being a television actor in what seems like a light-weight show. He has to keep assuring his wife he is being true. He has to keep proving himself to his father Rex. In a blistering speech Rex lambasts everything from diverse casting to gender fluidity to the changing world of pronouns and how to address people properly and with respect, to the world of acting. Scott Wentworth delivered that speech with such gusto and confidence one hesitated to smirk at his blinkeredness in the world. Lots to ponder.

In Jeremy, the fragile teen,  MacDonald has created a Hamlet character—thoughtful, unsteady, solitary and thinking about his own mortality. In a fascinating bit of analysis Jeremy thinks on Gertrude’s speech describing where Ophelia was found and how she drowned. Jeremy interprets that speech as Gertrude witnessing Ophelia’s suicide. He asks why she didn’t help her. Fascinating interpretation, rather than Gertrude merely repeating what she was told by someone else. Jeremy seems to wonder why Ophelia would do it, not noting it seems that her beloved brother was not there for solace; her father used her to spy on her boyfriend; her boyfriend dumped her; and finally, her father was killed. That would certainly weigh heavily on a person. As always, Ann-Marie MacDonald gives one a lot to think about.

I think the play needs another go-round to cut, tighten and focus on the stories that drive the play, rather than offer interesting stops along the way. The acting was terrific, as was Alisa Palmer’s direction.

Sorry I waited so long to post.  

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Live and in person at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse, St. Jacobs, Ont. Plays until Oct. 22, 2022.

www.draytonentertainment.com

Written by Alfred Uhry

Directed by Marti Maraden

Set by Allan Wilbee

Costumes by Jennifer Wonnacott

Lighting by Kevin Fraser

Cast: Donna Belleville

Randy Hughson

Cassel Miles

Alfred Uhry’s play, Driving Miss Daisy premiered in 1987. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. It’s about the relationship between Daisy Werthan (Donna Belleville), an elderly Jewish woman from Georgia and her Black chauffeur, Hoke Coleburn (Cassel Miles). The play covers the time from 1948 to 1973.

At the beginning of the play Daisy Werthan has just demolished her three-week-old car by crashing into a garage and destroying a lot of property. She should have reversed. It was enough for her son Boolie (Randy Hughson) to insist Daisy was too old (at 72!!!) to drive anymore. He wanted to arrange for Daisy to have a “coloured” chauffeur as was the norm at the time. Daisy balked. Boulie prevailed. He did the interviewing. Hoke Coleburn applied and appeared wearing a suit, tie and shoes so polished they gleamed. I thought that actor’s choice by Cassel Miles as Hoke was terrific. Mr. Miles ‘knows’ Hoke, he knows his care, pride in himself and in a way those watching him sit up a bit straighter.

Daisy gives Hoke attitude. She is not happy about this. As Daisy, Donna Belleville seems always to have a clenched jaw. Her sentences are clipped. She always seems to have her arms close to her, pent up.  Everything about this situation is onerous. But she must endure it. She is losing her independence but not her ability to give Hoke some difficulty. Initially she gets out of the car before Hoke can come around and open the door for her. Donna Belleville gives a sturdy, unsentimental performance, so that when Daisy truly realizes how important Hoke is to her, it’s a stunning, heart-squeezing revelation.

And Daisy is just ‘a touch’ racist. When a can of salmon goes missing, she tells Boulie and accuses Hoke saying, “Those people steal.” We can read into it what we want. But Hoke comes in that day with a can of salmon saying that the food she left for him (pork chops!) ‘Were a bit stiff’ so he took a can of salmon instead and then replaced it. Daisy is chastened. Randy Hughson plays Boulie with a lovely resignation. Daisy is difficult, but Boulie knows his way around her, even though she gives him a run for his money. There is clear love in this performance for this difficult woman and true respect for Hoke.

Over time Daisy softens towards Hoke. She depends on him. They have their own secret code of almost joining fingers in conspiratorial ‘knowing.’ It’s a lovely bit of business. Hoke knows the world they live in. He’s keenly aware of racism and Daisy seems oblivious. When Daisy’s synagogue (Temple) is bombed she is incredulous: “Who would do such a thing?” Hoke knows. He says, “You know who would do that, Miss Daisy.” He tells her his own harrowing story of racism. The look of stunned discovery at the cruelty of what he tells her on Donna Belleville’s face is subtle, but resounding.

Marti Maraden has directed Driving Miss Daisy with a light, sensitive hand. The relationships between the characters grows delicately. Nothing is forced. Even the choice of music is underplayed. I note that “Sounds of Silence” is played in the scene change after Daisy hears of the bombing of her synagogue. Stunning. I love it when artists make us look and listen harder.

Is Driving Miss Daisy a light-weight play, that perhaps is dated? I don’t think so. The comments about racism, not just from Hoke, but also from Boulie and what he has chosen to ignore in order to do business, makes one swallow hard. Driving Miss Daisy is a play about friendship, respect and love. And at its centre is a beating heart that is loud. In this angry, often mean-spirited world, the message of the play counts for a lot.

Drayton Entertainment Presents:

Plays until: Oct. 22, 2022.

Running time: 90 minutes approx. (no intermission)

www.draytonentertainment.com.

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Live and in person at the Factory Theatre, Mainspace, as part of the RUTAS Festival, Toronto, Ont. on until, Oct. 9 at 3:00 pm.

www.rutas.ca

Costume design, creation and performance, Nina Vogel

Artistic director, Roslyn Black

Conductor, Maziar Heidari

Puppets, props, headpiece design, construction, Nina Vogel

Wooden Body Piece Design and Sculpture, Nina Vogel and Fernando Fagundes

Lutherie Pieces Sculpture, Rogério Fagundes

Creation of Mechanisms & Automaton, Eduardo Salzane

Dressmaker, Melissa Vargas

Musicians, Euphonia Orchestra

This is a stunning show for children (but not too young) based on the story and music by Sergei Prokofiev. It’s about a young boy who captures a wolf. Simple. But this production is anything but.

Nina Vogel brings her brilliance as a puppeteer, artist, creator, from Brazil. She narrates the story, but it’s her puppet creations and the many artists she worked with who helped create this stunning show. She wears a dazzling dress created by Melissa Vargas that is shaped around a rigid frame that contains many pockets. From these pockets come the various puppets of the boy, his grandfather, a duck, a bird and the wolf, who will aid Nina Vogel in the telling of the story. The Euphonia Orchestra in on stage with her performing the music. The secret and true artistry of the puppet creations and Nina Vogel’s head piece/fascinator, is that they all represent some part of a musical instrument. Even her head piece is composed of sheets of music.

The meticulous care and imagination are truly stunning.

RUTAS Festival presents:

Plays until: Oct. 9 at 3:00 pm

Running Time: 2 hours. (this includes a Q & A and a short film on the creation of the puppets).

www.rutas.ca

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Live and in person at the Factory Studio Theatre, part of the RUTAS Festival, playing until Oct. 8, 2022.

www.rutas.ca

Creator/performer, Claren Grosz

Director, William Dao

Projectionists/collaborators: Elyse Waugh

Stephanie Zeit

Jesse Wabegijig

Sound designer and composer, Christopher-Elizabeth

Set by Echo Zhou

Stylist, Ami Blaxland

Collaborator, Emily Jung

In I Love the Smell of Gasoline, theatre artist Claren Grosz has written a bristling one-person show, bursting with passion, information and concern about the world and the environment. The little blurb in the program just scratches the surface of what she covers:

“ In I Love the Smell of Gasoline, Claren attempts to reconcile her Alberta oil-industry roots with the current environmental emergency. The project was born of a frustration with divisive Canadian politics, rampant hypocrisy, and a lack of team spirit when facing impending doom. It unpacks some of the forces that drive global warming and Western alienation in a person account of what it is to live in a modern, capitalist environment, be a self-serving organism, and also care about the earth and fellow creature kind.”

Claren Grosz’s production is complex and tech-heavy with three projectionists/collaborators working seamlessly to project images, formulae, models, miniature figurines frequently at the same time. It can appear messy but that is the beauty of the RUTAS festival, dedicated to bring art from across the Americas and beyond—to encounter new perspectives, voices and ideas, and to engage in conversations about art and human rights.” The festival does bring disparate voices to be heard and listened to. Claren Grosz’s voice is quiet, resounding and clear.

She impishly says that many people have told her that there are too many numbers in her show. Claren Grosz explains that she is a math tudor. She teaches grade 11 students. Numbers are in her fingers. She’s not going to cut down on the numbers if they prove a point.

I Love the Smell of Gasoline references geology, history, anthropology, prehistoric history, the environment, her hometown of Calgary, the gas and oil industry and how her family has deep roots in it, and she brings a perspective that acknowledges many different points of view. This is not a polemic. She sees many sides to the story and she introduces them.

She is particularly close to her family, especially her father who was a surveyor until he retired. At one point she says that he became seriously ill with cancer and needed an operation but that was cancelled because of the pandemic. One hopes he’s ok. She doesn’t say. The play is full of personal comments and conversations with her friends, the various partners she’s had, her family. It’s a deeply personal, passionate exploration of what is going on in our world. Very worth a look in this very short run.

RUTAS Festival presents:

Runs to: Oct. 8 at 8:30 pm

Running Time: 75 minutes.

www.rutas.ca

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Live and in person at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, Ont. Playing until Oct. 14, 2022. www.tarragontheatre.com

Written by Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)

Directed by Mike Payette

Choreographed by Hanna Kiel

Set and costumes by Christine Ting-Huan Urquhart

Lighting by Arun Srinivasan

Sound and original score by Deanna H. Choi

Cast: Karl Ang

Steven Hao

Anton Ling

Playwright Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) is a deeply thoughtful, graceful, inquisitive writer. These gifts are evident in such plays as Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land) and Antigone when he re-imagined two Greek dramas, and trace when he delved into his family history. Cockroach is his latest play incorporating his thoughtful style and intellect. It is also his angriest play.

Cockroach is about language, Shakespeare, fitting in, being true to one’s name, but mostly racism.  

Boy (Anton Ling) is a young man who engaged in sex with an older man for money. The older man treated Boy with contempt and disdain. Bard (Karl Ang) and Cockroach (Steven Hao) try to coach Boy into being tougher to cope with the cruel, hard, angry world of racism, condescension and disrespect.

Boy stands centre stage on Christine Ting-Huan Urquhart’s multi-leveled set, as Bard and Cockroach approach him on all fours from opposite sides of the stage, as they slowly move forward under plexiglass coverings (of sorts). Boy, as played by Anton Ling is docile, almost fragile. Karl Ang as Bard is vibrant, confident and energetic while riffing on the many and various words and sayings Bard (Shakespeare) has created in his many plays. Phrases are referenced with the play in which it first appeared. Many phrases in everyday speech came from Shakespeare and expresses countless feelings, thoughts, emotions and attitudes. There is a joy and buoyancy in Karl Ang’s playing that is so full of confidence. It’s hoped that the Bard’s confidence would affect Boy for the better. Offering the other side of the instruction is Cockroach played with vigor and a swift, deliberate monotone by Steven Hao. Cockroach represents the despicable phrases, words and pejorative comments that a person of East Asian descent has heard from racists who are full of invective. Those of various minorities who see Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho’s) dense, complex play will be mindful of their own experiences with racism and the despicable phrases that racists use to describe them. One thinks of the many condescending terms that reference insects, vermin and filth as racists hurl their insults. Cockroach speaks to the negative East Asian experience. Cockroach notes the tradition of dropping the East Asian name for an ‘Anglicized’ ‘Christian’ name to fit in better with western society. Interestingly playwright Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) has gone the opposite way in the last few years—putting his East Asian name first and his anglicized name in brackets.

Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) is such a gracefully intellectual writer, he delicately guides his audience to consider various sides of the story and the power of language. Words with various meanings including ones that are condescending and racist are put under a microscope. Language has changed over time. Do we cancel words that might be offensive in one instance, if they are used with another meaning in another instance? Cockroach references the phrase “chink in the wall” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the play ‘chink’ means a crevice or hole in the wall—two characters are to kiss through the ‘chink’ in the wall. But the word is also a racial slur towards East Asians, and was believed to have first been used in the 1850s, perhaps 300 years after Shakespeare used it for another purpose. When Bard is aware of the pejorative aspect of “chink in the wall” he quickly says “change it.” Just as quickly as Bard makes up words and phrases, he can cancel them as well.

Many words have been retired because their original meaning has been overtaken by another meaning. In the early 20^th century, ‘gay’ meant lighthearted and carefree. That meaning has been put to rest since ‘gay’ is now used to describe a homosexual man.

Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) in his quiet and firm way, makes us ponder all sides of the language issues in his play, as well as racism in all its ugliness. Cockroach is dense, complex and challenging. A lot of information and ideas come at the audience in a decidedly fast pace. Director Mike Payette has deliberately paced both Karl Ang as Bard and Steven Hao as Cockroach to deliver their lines almost at breakneck speed. I’m not sure of the wisdom of this directorial decision. Another thing to ponder.

Tarragon Theatre presents:

Plays until: Oct. 14, 2022.

Running Time: 90 minutes, approx. (No intermission)

www.tarragontheatre.com

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I’m posting the whole press release from Harbourfront regarding the 2022-23 Torque Season with Hofesh Shechter Company’s Double Bill, Double Murder, because Shechter is an incredible dancer/choreographer.

Harbourfront Centre Launches 2022-23 Torque Season with Hofesh Shechter Company’s Visceral Double Bill,
– Double Murder –

UK’s internationally lauded company presents immersive double bill that offers a startling study of contrasts, examining societal violence and compassionate hope

TORONTO, ON – Harbourfront Centre opens its international contemporary dance series, Torque, with the Ontario premiere of Hofesh Shechter Company’s hypnotic and high-energy double bill Double Murder, on stage October 27–29, 2022 at 7:30pm at Fleck Dance Theatre. Created by internationally celebrated choreographer and composer Hofesh Shechter, Double Murder is a thrilling exploration of the chaotic and oppressive forces in our modern times. The performance features two distinctly contrasting works that explore societal schisms and human kinship: Clowns is a sarcastic and playful nod to our ever-growing indifference to violence. At the same time, The Fix presents a tender, fragile antidote to the omnipresent forces of aggression that press on us daily. Set to Shechter’s sweepingly cinematic, percussive score, Double Murder exposes painful truths and deep emotions.

“We are delighted to open our 2022-23 Torque season with the Harbourfront Centre debut of the inimitable UK-based Hofesh Shechter Company,” says Nathalie Bonjour, Director, Performing Arts at Harbourfront Centre. “Renowned for their intense energy and intricate choreography, the Company brings us on an adventure of unbridled discovery, from the urgent movement and pulsing power of Clowns to the gentle lines and connecting moments of The Fix. Audiences are in for an unforgettable experience!”

Opening the evening is Clowns, which premiered in 2016 at Nederlands Dans Theater 1 in The Hague, and was later produced as a 2018 dance film for the BBC. Pulsing with “anarchy and tongue-in-cheek showmanship” (The Stage), Clowns is a macabre comedy of murder and desire, which unleashes a whirlwind of boisterous, dynamic energy, testing how far we are willing to go in the name of entertainment.

As a healing balm to the murderous power of Clowns, Shechter’s newest creation, The Fix – which premiered in London in September 2021 – brings a tender sentimentality to the stage with gentler sounds and meditative choreography. Lauded by The Observer as “heartwarming and beautiful, an antidote to the suffering of the world,” The Fix delivers compassion, shielding us from the white noise and aggression of our daily lives. Violence, tenderness and hope are all laid bare through Shechter’s achingly beautiful and cinematic lens.

Influenced by a collection of sources, including Israeli folk dance, clubbing culture, rock performance and installation art and film, Shechter’s distinctive choreographic style has been described as a “combination of dance-maker and rock star, but with film-director sensibilities” (The Times). The Israeli-born contemporary choreographer and composer has created dozens of works through his eponymous dance company, which launched in 2008. His works have been performed at leading festivals and on major international stages from Rio to Sydney, Shanghai to New York, winning him a passionate worldwide following.

Shechter has also worked as a choreographer in theatre, television and opera, most notably with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Paris Opera Ballet and Bartlett Sher’s Fiddler On The Roof on Broadway (2015), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2018, Shechter was awarded an honorary OBE (Order of the British Empire) for Services to Dance, and he currently serves as Artist-in-Residence of Gauthier Dance in Stuttgart, Germany  and as an associate artist of Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

As part of the Torque contemporary dance series, Harbourfront Centre will host a Torque Q&A immediately following the performance on October 28, 2022.

For tickets and further information, visit: harbourfrontcentre.com

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Live and in person at the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre, Toronto, Ont. Plays until Oct. 8, 2022.

www.canadianstage.com

Written by Olivier Choinière

Translated and adapted by Bobby Theodore

Directed by Brendan Healy

Set by Julie Fox

Lighting by Kimberly Purtell

Sound by Richard Feren

Costumes by Ming Wong

Cast: Finley Burke

Rosemary Dunsmore

Matthew Edison

Jonathan Goad

Michelle Monteith

Amy Rutherford

Maja Vujicic

A blistering play, given an exquisite production.

The Story. A family dinner from Hell, and we’ve all had them. Elizabeth is the matriarch. Her three children and two grandchildren are at her apartment for dinner. Conversations between the siblings and Elizabeth and her children are scattered, quiet and pointed. Information is quietly revealed. So is simmering animosity and anger. The simmering will turn to boiling and verge on explosive. You can’t turn away.

The Production. Elizabeth (Rosemary Dunsmore) is at one end of the rectangular table and her three children are seated with her son James (Matthew Edison) to her left, Daniel (Jonathan Goad) at the other end of the table and Melissa (Michelle Monteith) to Daniel’s left. Elizabeth’s two grandchildren: Tyler (Finley Burke) and Olivia  (Maja Vujicic) are in another room just off the dining room watching television. Elizabeth and James are in quiet conversation as is Daniel and Melissa.

It’s to the great credit of director Brendan Healy and his gifted cast that no conversation is louder than the others, unless it’s planned. The audience must decide whom to listen to, or fluctuate between the conversations.  And is often the case with various conversations going on, a person in this conversation might catch something in another conversation and engage there. We learn that Elizabeth is angry and frustrated with the politics going around in her world. James is a trained lawyer who was always working on ‘projects’ but is unemployed and is trying to explain the situation to his mother. Elizabeth quietly harps at him and he quietly pushes back. As Elizabeth, Rosemary Dunsmore is quietly relentless in her irritation with her world and James. As James, Matthew Edison is determined in his efforts to be calm yet try and stand his ground. It’s a matter of two people wanting to let loose at the other, but not wanting to for fear of causing a scene.

Daniel and Melissa engage and they have issues about various things.  Also, Daniel is there with his son Tyler and Melissa is there with her daughter Olivia. Daniel and Melissa are either separated or divorced from their partners.  Occasionally Olivia cries out in the other room at something Tyler did, and Daniel is up out of his seat going in the tv room to check on things, usually to blame Tyler for the problem.

As Daniel, Jonathan Goad is imposing and his fuse is short. Tyler is his main focus and Daniel’s anger and accusations at his teenaged son are relentless. Is it misplaced anger that Daniel is separated/divorced and he’s not happy with his son’s behaviour. Jonathan Goad, with his fine performance has us wondering. Finley Burke as Tyler carries on Daniel’s anger. Tyler is watchful and menacing. Tyler’s focus is his younger cousin Olivia. Maja Vujicic plays Olivia with as much cunning as Tyler. Olivia knows that she can cry out and her uncle Daniel will come running to reprimand Tyler. The quietest of the group is Melissa. Michelle Monteith realizes Michelle’s fragile nature. She is protective of Olivia but would not and could not stand up for herself or her daughter.  

The dining room scene is first played out with both Tyler and Olivia in the television room just off the dining room. Then the set revolves and we see the scene in the TV room play out between Tyler and Olivia that lead up to her scream. In the meantime, the whole dining room scene is ‘re-played’ only very quietly so that Tyler and Olivia have their chance.

The anger in the dining room and TV room rises stealthily. More information is revealed. We get the sense that this evening might be an intervention of sorts for James. The emotions just bubble and bubble and we know it will boil over.

Act II introduces Suzie (Amy Rutherford), a ‘take-no-prisoners-kind of person- who is James’ partner. She takes no prisoners, but she does take over. Amy Rutherford plays Suzie with a fearless confidence that overpowers anything anyone can offer in that room. It’s a performance that exudes confidence and power. There’s an almost desperation in the way Suzie controls the room. It’s interesting to watch Matthew Edison as James, remain silent and smiling as he eats his food, while Suzie takes over. She wants James to marry her and he’s quiet, smiling and eating. This is a poem of passive-aggression. Stunning.  

Olivier Choinière has written a bristling, angry play of power, disappointment in various guises, in language that grabs you—kudos to translator Bobby Theodore. Brendan Healy has directed this with the utmost care and balance.

At the beginning of both Acts Olivia stands off from the action and peers out, almost shivering with some kind of premonition of doom perhaps. Is Olivia the prescient one who knows that doom might be a future factor? Fascinating to chew on that one.

Comment. Good people of Canadian Stage, I want a printed programme when I go to the theatre. Yes, truly, I know about theatres trying to save money after this devastating pandemic and two-year closure of theatres. I am aware of the digital thingies that can be downloaded to our phones and devices and the QR codes etc. I want a printed programme when I go to the theatre. I can’t turn on my phone to check the cast list during the show after downloading the QR code. I can’t make notes without the programme to check facts. I want a printed programme. I keep them for research and an historical record of what I see and review. When I print the on-line programme with the sliding scale of print size etc. it comes out so small even a magnifying glass is useless. Am I a techno-cretin. You becha! Hence the printed programme, eh? You printed and distribute your spiffy brochure of the Canadian Stage season at the performances. Please put that brochure on line and save the printing and print the programme instead. Thank you.

Canadian Stage presents:

Plays until: Oct. 8, 2022.

Running Time: 90 minutes (no intermission)

www.canadianstage.com

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