What: TO LIVE—Living Rooms a series of 100 artistic episodes created virtually by artists living in Toronto for the most part.

Where: https://www.tolive.com/livingrooms

When: Now.

Why: A chance to champion the many independent artists living in Toronto and is a celebration of the power of the arts to heal and inspire.

Who: See Why above.

There’s a wonderful initiative here intitled TO LIVE—Living Rooms. (TO LIVE is the name of the organization that manages The St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Meridian Hall and Meridian Arts Centre in North York.)

TO LIVE—Living Rooms is a series of 100 performance pieces created by independent artists living mainly in Toronto and presented from their living rooms (for the most part) to us. Each episode is about five minutes or less. The selection of artists spans cultures, ethnicities, race, gender identification and the performing arts.

Josephine Ridge, Vice President of Programming for TO Live wrote of the artists who contributed:  “Their contributions have given us a remarkable snapshot of this moment in history and together are a celebration of the power of the arts as a force for healing and inspiration….In addition, we knew that independent artists would be particularly hard hit so we decided to focus on them.”

Besides referencing their art the artists were asked to address three questions:

How is art helping you get through this challenging time?

What’s your favourite part about your neighbourhood?

What would you like to share with people to help?

I found every single one of these artists who did answer the questions to be thoughtful, compassionate, open-hearted, generous of spirit and in many cases, spiritual. Often an artist ended by telling us to be safe, take care of each other and be kind. I loved how Indigenous artists in particular thought of the earth and the land and how we should take care of it as well as ourselves.

This is just a taste of the cross-section of the artists and the broad spectrum of their performance genres.

The episodes began recording in March and finished in mid-July. It started with OKAN, a musical Cuban duo of Elizabeth Rodriguez, (playing what I’m describing as a mini-marimba) and Magdely Savigne who played the box she was sitting on as a drum. They sang a beautiful song acapella. And because they grew up under communism, they are used to doing without. Their advice to us was to think of community and do what you can for your community.  

The last episode recorded in mid-July waspresented by Tawiah M’Carthy, a Ghanaian-born, Toronto-based theatre artist, playwright, actor, director, curator, and facilitator. He recited a speech from his play Black Boys about the idea of being a man and not crying when grief overcomes the person. Quite moving.

Singer-songwriter Quique Escamilla learned music in his native Mexico from his mother. He now lives in Toronto and is celebrated for his world music. He sang a song beautifully in Spanish of hard times. At the end he said: “Be safe and take care of each other.) He has a wonderful, clear voice and he sings with passion and conviction.

Emmanuel Jal got hisstart in life as a child soldier in South Sudan in the early 1980s. He has survived immense struggles to become an acclaimed recording artist, actor, author and peace ambassador now living in Toronto. He performed his song as free style rap and sings of piece and hope. His spoken words of wisdom are simple, clear and wise:

“Creativity comes out of pain.”

“Fear will make us see obstacles.”

“Courage will make us see opportunities.”

Irma Villafuere is a Salvadorian-Canadian dance artist, involved in community arts initiatives and performances in Toronto, Latin America and the Caribbean. Her work speaks out on violence against women through artistic expression, storytelling, and the moving body. She performed her dance piece on her balcony. Her concerns are for the planet and that we should care for it.

Some episodes were not performance driven, but were personal statements and were intensely moving such as the ones for Ronnie Burkett and Chief Lady Bird.

Ronnie Burkett is a prolific writer, avant-garde designer, and acclaimed puppeteer who has been entertaining audiences with theatrical productions for over 40 years. As a playwright, he focuses on original and innovative work, creating puppets of his own design. His stories are deeply thought and illuminate a dark side of society and issues.

He didn’t perform a scene as much as he joyfully showed us his meticulously kept work space where he designs and creates his puppets. He calls it the best place in the world to work. He is buoyant in the telling but there is a tinge of concern.  He worries about his community and the businesses in his neighbourhood. He says that we will be changed (when we come back from this) and he will make a story about it and can hardly wait to present it to us. This episode gives us a glimpse into his creative world but also the ideas that he ponders and worries about. I found his episode so moving and personal.  

Chief Lady Bird’s episode is also personal in nature. Sheis a Chippewa and Potawatomi artist, illustrator, educator and community activist from Rama First Nation and Moosedeer Point First Nation. She is Toronto-based and uses illustration, mixed media painting and street art to bring empowerment to the forefront of discussions about the nuances of Indigenous experiences.

Her episode is a very personal philosophical look at the whole question of creation in this pandemic. She questions if it is important to create art during this time? Her answer is poignant and thoughtful. She delivers this message from Rama First Nation to where she returned to reconnect. She is outside where the sky is a rich blue, there is snow on the ground and high brush behind her. Towards the end of her episode one of her paintings is ‘recreated’ on the screen. Beautiful. Self care is the most important aspect in this piece. Loved it.

Santee Smith is astonishing. She is a multi-discipline artist from Six Nations Grand River. She’s a choreographer who created a gut-twisting dance piece called The Mush Hole about the notorious Mohawk Institute—a residential school. Santee Smith is the Chancellor of McMaster University in Hamilton.

For her episode she shows us pottery made by four generations in her family that is beautiful and symbolic. Her grandmother, Alda Smith, revived the lost art of pottery-making to Six Nations.  Santee Smith and her daughter Sehmia created and sang a glorious song. (Her daughter’s pottery is also beautiful and full of symbols.)

d’bi.young anitafrika is a Jamaican-Canadian feminist dub poet and activist. Her work includes theatrical performances, four published collections of poetry, 12 plays, and seven albums.

d’bi.young anitafrica has created a piece of writing that is a letter of sorts to a person named Ranka (sp?) expressing the fear of being under ‘lock-down’ or as she describes it: ‘house-arrest’ because of the pandemic.  It vividly expresses concern over every twinge of pain, sore throat and flu-like symptoms making the person fear she has the virus. She writes about running out of food, being afraid to leave the house to shop and wondering when it will end. d’bi.young anitafrica delivers it with seriousness, in a musical, lilting Jamaican accent that flavours the particular language and expressions of that culture. It’s funny, vivid, bracing and captures all the mixed emotions people are going through.  And when she is finished d’bi.young anitafrica smiles her broad smile and says, “Thank you, Toronto” and somehow you get the sense that it will be alright.  

Not all the presentations are serious as exemplified by Tita Collective. This comedy group of six women created a very funny song of the trials of quarantine—toilet paper hording for example. The song was funny and the technical difficulty of jumping from one screen to another, with close-ups etc. and the proficiency of carrying it off, was really impressive.

Sometimes an artist veered in another direction from their ‘usual’ form of expression to present a fascinating episode. Such a one is Susanna Fournier.

Susanna Fournier is a Canadian theatre-maker, actor, and educator. She is best known as an award-winning playwright but for this episode she recited a poem she wrote (as part of a book of poems) in January before she knew theatres would be closed down. It is a poem for two voices who talk of connection, reaching out and forgiveness. Fournier’s graceful, sensitive reciting of the poem offers comfort in these difficult times. Her gentle care and concern filled that poem.  Wonderful.

Yolanda Bonnell is a Queer 2-Spirit Ojibwe/South Asian performer, playwright, and poet originally from Fort William First Nation in Thunder Bay. She praised TO LIVE’s Living Room series as “an amazing way to connect us all.”

She performed a ‘hand-drumming song’ entitled “Moon-Eye Song” from her play Scanner now in development at Factory Theatre. She says about the song, “At the base of it the song is about connection and surviving through something terrible and how we’re connected through that. And I thought it was apropos considering that we’re all going through this right now.”

Yolanda Bonnell’s drum is obviously important to her: her sister ‘gifted’ it to her and also painted meaningful aspects of Indigenous life on it. The drumming melds beautifully with the song. The lyrics reference another story than the pandemic and Bonnell melds that story to what we all are experiencing. The lyric: “We will not forget” has particular resonance. Indigenous life, tradition and the land grounds Yolanda Bonnell’s life to its core and it’s to her credit as a poet and writer that she is able to convey that importance to those who are not Indigenous. 

Suzanne Roberts Smith is a critically acclaimed actor, director, theatre maker, and dynamo collaborator

Suzanne Roberts Smith performed a scene from the play Offensive to Some by Berni Stapleton. The scene was filmed in her apartment on a cell phone by her husband Sérgio Xocolate.

The scene hits you in the guts especially because of Suzanne Roberts Smith’s light, delicate touch as the character gives details of the story. That juxtaposition of the breezy manner with the telling of how the character’s husband was physically abusive makes it all the more hard-hitting. This scene is an indictment of spousal abuse, insidious mental illness that goes undetected and a legal system that toys with the ‘prisoner’s’ rights.  The writing is spare yet full of details that create a full story that makes you suck air at its implications. It’s very ambitious to film on a cell-phone as Suzanne Roberts Smith plays a woman obviously in a prison uniform as she flits around the apartment as we realize how mentally fragile she is. I appreciated the ambition of the episode.

TO LIVE—Living Rooms is a wonderful initiative to address what we are all going through as seen through the eyes of independent artists. Bravo.

You can check all 100 performances piece of T.O. LIVE—Living Rooms at:

https://www.tolive.com/livingrooms

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What: An open-air theatre festival of six plays presented live until August. 30.

Where: On the back lawn of the Bruce Hotel in Stratford, Ont.

Why: To present live theatre safely by local actors of Stratford.

When: The plays run from Friday through Monday, from late-ish afternoon into the evening.  

How: www.herefornowtheatre.com for tickets.

Fiona Mongillo is the fearless Artistic Director of Here for Now Open-Air Theatre Festival. She has fashioned this six show festival to bring live theatre to the people of Stratford (and those who think nothing of driving from Toronto to Stratford to see live theatre) using local talent. Storytelling is the most important endeavor of the festival.

I saw five of the six shows over two days this past weekend. I will see the last play—I See The Crimson Wave–next weekend. The plays are eclectic in nature and tone, varying from the true story of an abused wife who got even in Whack!; the wildly inventive Instant Theatre in which the audience provides the suggestions and the cast of four improvises the plays; The Dark Lady is a wonderful work of imagination about who ‘the Dark Lady’ was in Shakespeare’s sonnets; A Hundred Words for Snow is a story of love, devotion, and fulfilling a wish to a parent; and Infinite Possibilities is a bit of whimsy about the truth about Shakespeare and others told by Shakespeare himself who appears in balloon pants which he stole from Geraint Wyn Davies’ trash.

WHACK!

Written by Mark Weatherley

Directed originally by Lucy Jane Atkinson

 Associate Director, Monique Lund

Cast: Fiona Mongillo

Siobhan O’Malley

Olivia Viggiani

In 1911 Angelina Napolitano (Fiona Mongillo) admitted to a neighbour that she had just killed a pig. The ‘pig’ was her husband, Pietro (Olivia Viggiani). She killed him with an axe. In his sleep. She was arrested, tried and found guilty.

In spare, clear detail, Mark Weatherley has written an absolutely gripping tale of spousal abuse, revenge and justice that has such resonance for us more than 100 years after the fact. Angelina and her husband Pietro first emigrated from Naples, Italy to New York City because Pietro felt he would get rich there, buy a house and live well. Except that he was lazy, impatient to make it rich and couldn’t keep a job. They eventually moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. where he got a job as a labourer. In the meantime, they had four children. He was an abusive husband who beat Angelina and even attacked her with a knife. When she complained to the police Pietro was charged but he got off. Times have not really changed. When Pietro told her to make some money through prostitution—she was 6 months pregnant—and he threatened her if she didn’t, it was the last straw.

The production is terrific. Monique Lund has realized the original direction of Lucy Jane Atkinson. All the parts are played by three gifted actresses. Angelina Napolitano (Fiona Mongillo) makes her dramatic entrance walking slowly, as if in a trance, dragging a very large, long-handled axe along the pavement. She approaches the stage and stands in a space encircled by a rope. That confinement symbolizes Angelina’s life in that marriage. Fiona Mongillo as Angelina is both concerned by her husband’s quixotic changes of his mind and feisty when defending herself against him.  Mongillo beautifully conveys how trapped Angelina was as a wife in that marriage and as a woman in regards to the legal system.

Olivia Viggiani plays various parts but mainly Pietro. She swaggers and struts with a sneer and seems to loom over Angelina. There always a sense of danger as Pietro. Siobhan O’Malley also plays various characters but mainly Angelina’s inexperienced but committed lawyer.

It’s a fascinating, unsettling, gripping play.

Instant Theatre

Cast: Rebecca Northan

Ijeoma Emesowum

Bruce Horak

Kevin Kruchkywich

The improv group, Sidewalk Scenes and An Undiscovered Shakespeare, has created Instant Theatre which are four completely improvised playlets partially devised from the audience’s suggestions. Each scene is ‘directed’ by a member of the group and improvised by the rest. The director calls “scene” when he/she feels the scene has accomplished its purpose. The audience then votes on which scene they want to continue and which scene bites the dust.  There are set aspects to each scene so that the group can use a rack of costumes when appropriate. Needless to say, no two plays are the same; each performance is different.

What is consistent is the furious paced invention, imagination, nimble playing and sharp improvisational skills of this group. This group of four is so attuned to each other that they can riff from idea to idea with ease. As with any improvisation, some ideas work better than others. But the skill and boldness of this group is just inspiring to watch.

The Dark Lady

Written by Jessica B. Hill

Cast: Jessica B. Hill

Rylan Wilkie

Curiosity is a wonderful thing and actress Jessica B. Hill is loaded with it. She was preparing for a role with the Stratford Festival Company and was reading through Shakespeare’s sonnets for curiosity. She read all the sonnets and found the later ones, the Dark Lady Sonnets, were full of jealous obsession and borderline cruelty. There was such a difference between the man who wrote such vivid women as Rosalind, Beatrice and Cleopatra etc. and this misogynistic man in the later sonnets that it got her thinking, imagining, pondering and creating a way to connect the two.

It’s believed that Emilia Bassano is one of the possible models for the Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s sonnets. She was an English poet of Italian descent and musician who lived from 1569-1645. Her father was a court musician of Elizabeth 1 and Emilia was educated in royal circles. It is conceivable that she could have met Shakespeare (1564-1616). On the basis of her one volume of poetry she professed herself to be a professional poet. (seems reasonable to me).

As Jessica B. Hill writes in her note: There are 12 of Shakespeare’s Dark Lady sonnets in this piece, text from 20 of Shakespeare’s plays, and 5 excerpts from Emilia Bassano’s sole book of poems “Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum”. I love to think that these two brilliant minds found each other, learnt from each other and influenced each other. This narrative I’ve weaved through their poetry paints their story through their works and finds her voice in his words.”

The Dark Lady is a compelling, engaging creation of theatre. Hill poses several questions: “What if—Shakespeare and Bassano met, had a relationship, informed each other’s work? Hill also creates a heady world of words, images, court intrigue, a woman’s place in that world, having to be as wily as a man to navigate the murky waters or court politics etc.

As Emilia Bassano, Jessica B. Hill is feisty, confident and commanding. She has to make her points and stake her space against this literary star of court with grace but not be a pushover. As Shakespeare, Rylan Wilkie plays a man who certainly is curious about this intriguing woman and learns quickly not to underestimate her. It’s a performance of a man who is always surprised by some new aspect of this women.

Jessica B. Hill also pricked my curiosity about other accomplished women who also lived around this time. I wondered if Emilia Bassano knew about Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1569-1645) who was trying to forge her own career in a man’s world. And I bet Aphra Behn (1640-1689), the first woman to make her living as a playwright in London, knew of Emilia Bassano, even though Behn was born five years before Bassano died. Good theatre makes you think about a lot of things.

A Hundred Words for Snow

By Tatty Hennessy

Directed by Jonathan Goad

Cast: Siobhan O’Malley

This is a wonderful coming of age play about Rory, a young (teenage) woman who wants to do right by her late father and take his ashes on the trip of a lifetime.

Playwright Tatty Hennessy weaves a deeply layered, richly worded play that slowly ramps up the pace and has us gently gripping the arm rest, or at least the seat of the chair. It’s a story of the various situations a young woman can get into if they aren’t prepared, but are smart enough to deal with because of resolve and tenacity. And at its core is a love story of a daughter for her father.

The playing area is a raised platform and Siobhan O’Malley as Rory, uses the space with economy and control. She engages the audience in the most natural of ways, facing them, looking them in the face, making the performance intimate and compelling. It’s directed with meticulous attention to the detail of the words by Jonathan Goad and the result is a performance by Siobhan O’Malley that is mesmerizing.

Infinite Possibilities

Written and performed by Mark Weatherley

Directed by Monique Lund

Timing is everything in the theatre, and William Shakespeare certainly knew a thing or two about that. Except he miscalculated here. None other than William Shakespeare made an appearance on the back lawn of the Bruce Hotel to set the story right. He had heard about the Stratford Festival dedicated to his works and decided to come for the opening night but didn’t count on the pandemic to close the place. (He’s at the end of a long line of disappointed people—but I digress).

The charming, bearded and even boyish Mark Weatherley as Shakespeare appears in ‘balloon pants’ (those billowy pants the puff out at the waist and balloon to the knee—the rest are tights (or long shorts if you will). He says he stole them from the trash of Geraint Wyn Davies—who knows a thing or two about Shakespeare’s characters. Weatherley sets the stage immediately with light-hearted humour, impishness and a touch of silliness.

The aim of the show is to tell the truth. The most important truth is that Shakespeare wrote his own plays; not some Earl or other high-ranking man, not some other guy who was dead for the whole of Shakespeare’s life—Shakespeare. Weatherley nicely dispatches the myth that a simple man who was not high born or highly educated could not possibly know as much about all the many things that appear in Shakespeare’s plays.

Weatherley then goes on to other mysteries. The Mona Lisa for example. Who was she? Why is she smiling. Weatherley suggests that the iconic picture is really a paint-over for something else. And who is it a painting of? I’m not telling. You have to see the show.

There are other moments of intriguing “possibilities” that Weatherley poses. It’s all done with good humour, a brisk pace thanks to director Monique Lund, and a lovely connection with the audience.

Bravo to Fiona Mongillo and her company of stalwart actors who put this festival together on the back lawn of the spiffy Bruce Hotel in Stratford. I know I miss hugging during these weird times. This festival made me realize how much I also miss applauding live theatre. Every one of my audiences clapped loudly and long after each show.

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At the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Ont.

Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis

Directed by Weyni Mengesha

Set by Ken MacKenzie

Costumes by Shannon Lea Doyle

Lighting by Kevin Lamotte

Sound by John Gzowski

Fight director, Simon Fon

Cast: Diana Donnelly

Daren A. Herbert

Xavier Lopez

Tony Nappo

Gregory Prest

A heart-thumping production of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ gripping play about the hopeless American penal system if one is a person of colour, peace through prayer, and finding grace in a graceless place.

The Story. Lucius Jenkins and Angel Cruz are both in notorious Rikers Island prison in New York City for murder. Lucius admits his crime. Angel says he didn’t mean to kill the man he did. He just meant to “shoot him in the ass.”  Angel was getting revenge for a crime his victim committed. Angel’s overworked lawyer, Mary Jane Hanrahan, tries to show him the intricacies of the American legal system in order to get him off. In the meantime the guard Valdez is determined to keep both Lucius and Angel under his thumb, bullied and browbeaten. D’Amico was the guard before Valdez. He treated Lucius with respect, kindness and consideration. He used to bring him cookies or some of his wife’s home cooking. D’Amico was soon removed. Kindness has no place in that prison.

The Production. Ken MacKenzie’s set is masterful in evoking the dispiriting nature of the stark jail cells in which Lucius (Deren A. Herbert) and Angel (Xavier Lopez) live. The walls are dark grey. There are no windows. Each cell has a steel bench on which to sit or lay. There is a door stage left beyond the cells. Shannon Lea Doyle’s costumes are a prison shirt and pants for Lucius and Angel; full cop uniforms and gear (handcuffs, billy club, notepad) for Valdez (Tony Nappo) and D’Amico (Gregory Prest). Mary Jane Hanrahan (Diana Donnelly) wears a slim skirt and simple white blouse. There is nothing fancy here.

There is noise. There is the noise of the banging cell doors. The echo of people walking. The yells for people to be quiet. At the beginning of the production Angel is on his knees praying, illuminated by Kevin Lamotte’s eerie light. He is saying the Lord’s Prayer but gets stuck on that bit about the name. Is it “Howard be thy name?” Something else? He gets more and more flustered. The voices around him telling him to shut up get louder and louder. He continues searching for the right word and finally gets it—‘hallowed be thy name.” By this time the angry voices from the unseen cells around him are deafening. Xavier Lopez as Angel is a bundle of nerves, trying not to lose control, trying to keep his wits about him. His anxiety is obvious. He’s praying for a reason—for comfort, solace, peace. Mary Jane Harahan, as played by Diana Donnelly, is an exhausted, overworked public defender. While Angel is frustrated by her—he wants a male lawyer– he soon learns to trust her. There is a grudging respect. She tries to help him by maneuvering through the maze of the system. He tries to keep up.

Lucius (Daren A. Herbert) keeps his body toned with strenuous exercise in his cell or in the exercise yard when he is allowed out for an hour. He keeps his mind and spirits up with God. He prays. He knows the bible. He has given himself to God for forgiveness. We learn later what he did. He admits it. No excuses. Later he offers information of the hideous life he’s lived. It’s information we might consider an excuse, but Lucius, as played by the masterful Daren A. Herbert, is comfortable and confident in himself. There is no remorse. There is acceptance. It’s a performance that is full of quiet confidence. There is no swagger. There is a spirituality about Lucius that makes him calm and knowing. Valdez, played by a menacing Tony Nappo, tries to keep Lucius subservient with taunts, insults, threats and bullying tactics. Valdez calls him a loser and says that his eyes are those of a dead man. Actually Lucius’ eyes are lively with life and a slight sneer to the bully Valdez. Nappo does not play the obvious by bellowing or imposing his weight against the defenceless prisoners. It’s an interesting dual of one attitude trying to overpower another. Gregory Prest as D’Amico is quiet spoken, decent and kind. He tells us of a selfless thing he does at the end by going to see Lucius and seems disappointed when Lucius doesn’t recognize him. I wonder if that selfless thing was really a search for validation.

Director, Weyni Mengesha has meticulously created the fraught, frustrating world of the American penal system for Lucius and Angel as they survive in their cells. There is a camaraderie between the two men and also judgement. Angel is outraged at what Lucius did as his crimes and questions his belief in God and God’s belief in Lucius. The men argue about faith, hope, salvation and life. The rhythms and pace of the robust dialogue between Daren A. Herbert as Lucius and Xavier Lopez as Angel is bracing, compelling theatre.

Comment. Stephen Adly Guirgis writes about people struggling to live with dignity and respect in a system that does not value them (The Motherfucker with a Hat, Between Riverside and Crazy and Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train). His dialogue is muscular, has an intoxicating rhythm and is hilarious in spite of its darkness. Guirgis puts us in the world of his characters and makes us embrace them. Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train is a case in point. Terrific theatre.

Soulpepper Theater Company presents:

Opened: Jan. 30, 2020.

Saw it: Feb. 5, 2020

Closes: Feb. 23, 2020.

Running Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

www.soulpepper.ca

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At Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto, Ont.

Written by William Shakespeare

Adapted in parts by the company.

Directed by Allyson McMackon

Costumes by Brandon Kleiman

Lighting by Michelle Ramsay

Fights by Simon Fon

Cast: Richard Alan Campbell

Burgundy Code

Amanda Cordner

Michael Derworiz

Nick Eddie

Matthew Finlan

Sarah Machin Gale

Richard Lee

Alexa MacDougall

Alexandra Montagnese

Kwaku Okyere

Matthew Rossoff

Annie Tuma

A breath-taking, heart-stopping production that realizes the depth, darkness, love, sexuality and joy of the play. Bravo to director/visionary Allyson McMackon for this beautiful parting gift.

The Story. I am going to copy the press information because they did such a good job: “Spanning a single evening or a single sleep, Shakespeare’s play is set in Athens on the eve of a big wedding. Threatened with death if she does not marry who her father chooses, Hermia flees with her lover Lysander through a forest to get to an aunt’s house where they may love freely. Pursued by Hermia’s approved-of suitor Demetrius and the lovelorn Helena, a comedy of desires ensues as they enter a supernatural world with a warring fairy queen and king, a Hobgoblin named Puck and a group of actors rehearsing a play for the festive wedding.”

The Production.  Every single creative decision from the casting to the design to the performances to the direction is so accomplished they make my head swim.  The stage is bare. The playing space is a huge circle. The cast enters running, circles the area and scatters around the space. When characters are not in a scene the actors wait watching either stage left or right by the walls. The ensemble cast themselves in their parts. They also adapted Act I and Act V of the play to reflect certain ideas.

The production starts with various members of the cast taking turns trying to tell the story only to have another cast member say, “No, that’s not what happened.” Then that person tries to tell the story only to be interrupted by someone else, saying “that’s not how it happened” And that person tries to tell the story. And then the characters take their places and the play continues.

Brilliant.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play about confusion and mistaken identity—Puck puts the magic potion in the eye of the wrong Athenian for example. What better way to deepen that idea than with a bit of adaptation in which the characters can’t agree on how the story really happened or what it’s really about?

OK I know I was less than accommodating  when director Chris Abraham had writer Zack Russell add whole scenes to the Groundling Theatre and Crow’s Theatre’s production of Julius Caesar to establish his thesis about the play. In that case I thought the play did that on its own. In the case of Theatre Rusticle’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream the company has its own particular style of re-imagining established plays and stories while still being true to the spirit of the play and these adapted scenes fulfil the company’s mandate.

Director Allyson McMackon has created a production that is popping with energy. Of all the productions that I’ve seen of A Midsummer Night’s Dream I have never seen a forest (where it takes place) so teeming with buoyant, fearless life, sex, danger, darkness,  animals, insects, people, frenzied confusion, jealousy and love.

Hermia (Annie Tuma) and Lysander (Matthew Finlan) race through the forest on their way to his aunt’s house, to escape her father’s wrath and the demand that she marry Demetrius (Alexandra Montagnes). They get discombobulated in the forest. It’s night. Michelle Ramsay’s lighting is moody and striking.  Helena (Nick Eddie) is in love with Demetrius. Demetrius wants Hermia.  Hermia is in love with Lysander but her father wants her to marry Demetrius and if she says no then he wants her dead. (A bit harsh, that) Helena knows that Hermia and Lysander are escaping through the forest and tells Demetrius to make points with him, then they too go charging through the forest to catch them. The movement/action here is not just flitting from here to there. No, this is Allyson McMackon action. The actors run, flip, slide, and jump over and into each other. The images are striking. The text says that Helena is tall. Allyson McMackon, as director, and Nick Eddie as Helena go for the gusto by accentuating that. Nick Eddie is over six feet tall and the other actors are shorter. The image of the gangly, ‘cloud-touching’ Helena next to the other characters (and certainly Hermia) who are ‘diminutive’ in comparison is a wonderful sight, which is the point.  

In the meantime Oberon (Kwaku Okyere), King of the Fairies, wants his Fairie Queen Titania (Richard Lee) to give him “a little changeling boy” of whom she is protective. She won’t. He then uses trickery to steal the changeling boy from her. As Oberon, Kwaku Okyere moves stealthily close to the ground. He is almost cat-like or even lizard-like. The movements are fluid, muscular, graceful and balletic. He wears black tights and a form-fitting top that accentuates the muscularity of the character. Okyere, quiet voiced, conveys Oberon’s seductiveness, dangerousness and command.

As Titania, Richard Lee is also dressed in black—black flowing light cape and tights (kudos to costume designer, Brandon Kleiman). In this case the cape suggests wings so I get the sense that Titania is either a delicate flying insect or perhaps even a bird. But there is nothing delicate about Lee’s playing of Titania. While Oberon is close to the ground in his movements, Titania is upright, giving the sense she is in the air. Titania matches Oberon’s strength with her own determined resolve. They are a perfect match.   

Puck is often played as an impish, playful spirit. Here Richard Alan Campbell plays him as a bit muddled, confused and not exactly swift of movement. That could better explain his confusion in putting the magical flower liquid in the eye of the wrong Athenian. What a refreshing rethinking of this character.

McMackon keeps the pace at break-neck speed. Simon Fon works his magic by creating such high-stakes fights. All this passionate, frantic movement and activity leaves everybody breathless, including the audience. Make sure you know where the defibrillator is in the theatre.

Comment. This is the last production of Theatre Rusticle after which founder-artistic director, Allyson McMackon closes it down. She founded the company in 1998 and produced some of the most provocative productions over that time and she’s tired. I can appreciate that but it’s heartbreaking that this kind of consistent challenging, bracing theatre from this company will stop.   The artistic world is changing and she is going on to other challenges. She will still teach, direct etc.  And boy did she go out with a bang. The run is sold out but returns are possible. Do anything within reason to get a ticket.

In an effort to go green the programme etc. is on line. There is no hard copy of the  programme of the show. This is unfortunate. I so wanted a memento of this last Theatre Rusticle show to put in my drawer with all my other treasures. Thanks for everything, Allyson, especially all those times you made me gasp at some clever direction, or an image or an illuminated thought. Wonderful theatre does that.

Theatre Rusticle presents:

Began: Jan. 14, 2020.

Closes: Jan. 26, 2020.

Running Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes, approx.

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At the Tarragon Theatre, Mainspace, Toronto, Ont.

Written by Jason Sherman

Directed by Jamie Robinson

Set and costumes by Rachel Forbes

Lighting by Jareth Li

Sound by Thomas Ryder Payne

Cast: Emma Ferreira

Janet-Laine Green

Jeff Lillico

Tony Ofori

Richard Waugh

A production that goes like the wind but whose story are we listening to as the focus of the play and what is its point?

The Story.  Copy That is playwright Jason Sherman’s look at the fraught world of writing a cop show for network television and how real life sometimes is not a good fit.

We are in the writing room for the show called “Hostages” in which every week the writers have to come up with a story in which good cops save people who are held hostage.

They are lead by Peter who is the senior writer and show runner—the person who sees that the components of the show run smoothly. He’s been doing this kind of work for about 30 years and knows all the angles. Danny is a hip writer in his late 30s. Maia is a biracial young writer who is diligent and eager but not experienced.  She has a hard time getting the men in the room to listen to her. Colin is a novelist transitioning into television writing.  He’s black. You might say that that writing room is ticking all the boxes for diversity. It’s even referenced quietly in one of the speeches. And there is Elsa who is the head of the department who either accepts or rejects these scripts.  She is demanding and changes her mind at will and that drives Peter crazy.  But he thinks he knows how to deal with her.

Then one night Colin is driving Maia home and she’s had too much to drink and lays out in the back seat.  Colin is pulled over by the police. Colin thinks it’s because he’s black and drives a nice car. The police see Maia laid out in the back seat, think the worst of Colin and rough him up when he stands up for his rights. When he shows up for work the next day he is still sore. Naturally he wants to write an episode that depicts what has happened. Peter says it doesn’t fit into the outline of the show. The police on the show are supposed to be good.

Colin writes it any way and then all the politicking, maneuvering, and jockeying for position with Elsa goes into overdrive regarding getting the script accepted. Maia and Colin get hate e-mail from racists and trolls. We see what people will do to tell their story and keep their jobs, as the real world crushes in on them.

The Production and Comment. In Rachel Forbes’s spare set the writing room consists of a bulletin board with cards on it outlining each episode and where they are in the process. There is a whiteboard with each character’s name on it and their distinguishing traits. The writers sit at tables pushed together. Each writer has his/her own laptop. Dress is casual. Peter (Richard Waugh) is in a work shirt and jeans. There is a phone on Peter’s desk.

Ideas are bounced around as Peter either accepts, rejects or questions them. Jason Sherman’s dialogue is rapid fire. The accomplished cast under Jamie Robinson’s skilled direction bats the words back and forth as quickly as a game of ping pong. These are people who have to think on their feet, meet deadlines and produce scripts.  Peter is the pro at this stuff. Richard Waugh as Peter either slouches in his chair or paces the room. Through Waugh’s intense, nuanced performance we get the full sense of Peter’s frustration working with Elsa when he takes her calls and puts her on speaker-phone. Richard Waugh leans against the table stiffly; he clenches his fists; the body language suggests total frustration. His voice is controlled and measured but we see he is anything but. This is a man who has endured this treatment, this undermining, his whole career. It’s a performance that is emotionally charged.  It’s been way too long since Mr. Waugh was on a stage to show us his gifts.

Maia as played by Emma Ferreira quietly endures being ignored by the men, passed over for ideas or treated with an off-handedness when they do listen to her. Maia is young, inexperience and is a devoted student of ‘book-learning’ because that is what she can hang on to until she gets life experiences. She finally gets her dibs in when she unloads on Peter and the room by telling them how they treat her. Jeff Lillico as Danny has that confidence of a man who knows how to play the game in that fast world. Morals are not important. Getting ahead is. He is passionate about his work and the show and bridles when Elsa changes the gender of a character, but he knows how to ride out the rough patches.

Tony Ofori imbues Colin with justified outrage at his treatment. He wants to get even for  the racist treatment he experienced at the hands of the police. He knows how to use procedure to plead his case, but also knows how to take advantage of a situation in getting even. There is passion and frustration in this performance that is bang on.

Janet-Laine Green as Elsa, whether on the phone or in person, is formidable. She is a woman in a man’s world and she needs this show to succeed. She knows how to play her writers. It’s the compliment game of using their names all the time—I guess everybody sees through that, but it is fun to hear her do it. Her talk is quick, to the point and blithely  broadsiding—she changes the gender of a character because a star is interested and just as easily changes other decisions. More than anything she knows how to play one character against another. Working in the television business is a blood sport and Elsa has mastered the game. Jason Sherman beautifully captures that in his quick, brittle dialogue. And the humour is sharp, focused and dark. Copy That is full of Sherman’s particular humour.

Director Jamie Robinson does dandy work of showing the energy and frustration of creating a TV show as the characters interact. They all compromise their morals and beliefs to write for this show, but Peter knows it clearly about himself and knows the consequences.  In a way it’s heartbreaking for him. And while I was grateful for the performances and the direction the play is confusing in its intent and disappointing at the end of the day.

Jason Sherman has realistically depicted a television writer’s room because he’s had extensive experience writing for television.  But there is that other real world, Colin’s experiences as a black man being mistreated by the police, that we are told about, but is not used in the television show because it would be politically explosive to Elsa. The writers comment that for every script the higher ups send them notes and comments longer than the submission so the submission is usually watered down.

If the opportunity of dealing with Colin’s real experiences in the TV show is ignored then what is the point of the play? Is it just to show us what goes on in a television network writing room? It’s too easy a solution. And to quote a line of questioning in the text, whose voice are we listening to and why?  Is Sherman trying to illustrate how TV writing sucks your soul out? Don’t we know that? Isn’t that a cliché? Is he trying to say that TV ignores real life because it’s too challenging or realistic? Well, good TV shows disprove that thesis. So what is it about?  Beats me?

 There are so many revelations and plot twists and surprises at the end of the play that I thought Jason Sherman does not know how to end this play and he’s too good a writer for me to think that, but I do.  Disappointing.

Tarragon Theatre Presents:

Opened: Nov. 13, 2019.

Closes: Dec. 8, 2019.

Running Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes with an intermission.

www.tarragontheatre.com

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At the Royal George Theatre, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

Written by Hannah Moscovitch

Directed by Diana Donnelly

Designed by Gillian Gallow

Lighting by Michelle Ramsay

Musical direction by Ryan deSouza

Movement by Esie Mensah

Cast: Peter Fernandes

Marie Mahabal

Mike Nadajewski

Gabriella Sundar Singh

This stunning early play of Hannah Moscovitch about love and hard times in Stalinist Russia is given a dazzlingly creative production by director Diana Donnelly.

 The Story.  Stalinist Russia, the early 1920s. Sonya works in a flower shop in a small town. She is having an affair with Piotr the Gravedigger. Business for him is steady. He is always digging a fresh grave.  She fell in love with his charm and lovely singing of a mournful song about love. One thing leads to another and she becomes pregnant. This leads to many complications and revelations. Sonya must use every ounce of her pluck to survive. It’s hard. She’s a woman. They are either taken for granted, taken advantage of or ignored. Sonya’s tenacity and drive fights against the odds.

 The Production.  Diana Donnelly is an highly accomplished actress. She is now branching into direction with The Russian Play. This is Diana Donnelly’s debut as a director and the result is astonishing. She focuses on playwright Hannah Moscovitch’s heightened theatricality in The Russian Play and ramps that up in her production.

There is a quote projected on the back wall of the stage that greets the audience as it files in that establishes the sense of terror that exists in Stalinist Russia. Close to show time another quote is projected under the first, this time from Pussy Riot, the iconoclastic Russian rock group,  showing how that terror exists in today’s Russia, where freedom of anything, let alone speech, does not exist.

Sonya (the wonderful Gabriella Sundar Singh) lays ill on a bed surrounded by darkness, bedeviled by phantoms. She gets out of bed in a flash and comes downstage to directly address the audience and establish her wonderful irreverence, humour and spunk (and her Russian accent is dandy too). She talks of where to hide a piece of bread. She tells us this is a Russian play about love and understood is that there are hard times and disappointments along the way. Well of course, she’s a woman and poor, of course there are hard times for her.

In a flash of Michelle Ramsay’s evocative light the flower shop appears. In Gillian Gallow’s smart design the flower shop is suggested beside the bed by a mound of bright flower petals that spreads across the stage. At times characters throw the petals in the air where they cascade down to the stage. Lovely image.

The cast is stellar beginning with the demurely fearless Gabriella Sundar Singh as Sonya. Her Sonya is a smart, wily woman who has the tenacity to survive. She is buoyant when she talks about her love for Piotr and his quiet ways. She has a more mature, worldly attitude when dealing with Kostya, her rich lover. With Kostya we see a more sensual Sonya, more knowing.

Singh has a fine sense of how to play to and listen to the audience, since the audience is her “playing partner” when she is addressing them. She knows how to set up and deliver a laugh line beautifully.

As Piotr, the Gravedigger, Peter Fernandes is so quietly understated that it’s easy to see how Sonya fell in love with him. His manner is gentle but knowing. Piotr is an industrious man with a secret. It’s obvious he loves Sonya and she him. Sonya also has a secret that she shares with Piotr. A solution must be found. Without giving anything away, Donnelly illuminates the solution with music (fine playing by Marie Mahabal) and breathtaking staging involving a pulled scarf. Stunning.

Mike Nadajewski plays the rich Kostya who is smitten with Sonya. Nadajewski brings flare and imperiousness to Kostya. His hair is slick; his posture in his fur coat suggests power and prosperity. This Kostya is attractive, dangerous and compelling.

Marie Mahabal not only provides the violin accompaniment to the play, intensifying emotional moments with her playing, but also adds sound effects that intensify moments. When Sonya talks about her broken heart, Mahabal appears with a black box that she shakes vigorously. The contents rattle with so many broken pieces inside. A perfect rendering of a broken heart.

The production concludes with the raw, raucous sound of Pussy Riot blaring their political message, fearlessly. The play in part is about how women are often kept silent, unseen and forgotten. By ending the play with Pussy Riot Diana Donnelly reminds us that often those silent, unseen, forgotten women are front and centre and can roar,

Comment. The Russian Play (2006) is Hannah Moscovitch’s second play, (the first was Essay (2005). Moscovitch clearly establishes her voice, her depth of thought, her irreverent, sharp sense of humour and her wonderful facility with language in The Russian Play. Her characters are finely drawn and detailed. While Moscovitch has written a forthright, confident woman in Sonya, Moscovitch has also written a feminist play that illuminates the difficulty of women to be heard and seen regardless of whether it’s Stalinist Russia or here today.

This stunning debut production from Diana Donnelly beautifully realizes Hannah Moscovitch’s rich, funny and poignant play about love, feminism, freedom and lack of it. Donnelly has a vivid intellect and a fine theatrical mind that clearly conveys her ideas. I want to see more of Donnelly’s fine direction, please, as soon as humanly possible.

Presented by the Shaw Festival.

Began: June 8, 2019.

Closes: Oct. 12, 2019.

Running Time: 50 minutes.

www.shawfest.com

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At the Festival Theatre, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Music by Frederick Loewe

Original dances created by Agnes DeMille

Revised book by Brian Hill

Directed by Glynis Leyshon

Music direction by Paul Sportelli

Choreography by Linda Garneau

Set by Pam Johnson

Costumes by Sue LePage

Lighting by Kevin Lamotte

Projections by Corwin Ferguson

Sound by John Lott

Cast: David Ball

Peter Fernandes

Kristi Frank

Élodie Gillett

Kyle Golemba

Alexis Gordon

Patty Jamieson

Jane Johanson

Krystal Kiran

Madelyn Kriese

George Krissa

Julie Lumsden

Marie Mahabal

Stewart Adam McKensy

Peter Millard

Mike Nadajewski

Matt Nethersole

Drew Plummer

Travis Seetoo

Genny Sermonia

Gabriella Sundar Singh

Jacqueline Thair

Michael Therriault

Jay Turvey

Kelly Wong

Jenny L. Wright

Not Even a GPS could make sense of the geography of director Glynis Leyshon’s confusing, muddy direction.

The Story. It’s set in the Highlands of Scotland and New York City, 1946. Tommy Albright and his good friend Jeff Douglas have come to Scotland to have one last fling before Tommy gets married in New York City. He and Jeff fought in WWII, were shaken by the experience and are in Scotland for relaxation and some hunting. They discover the magical, mysterious village of Brigadoon. It’s not on their map. They discover that it appears for one day every hundred years. Tommy also discovers and is smitten by Fiona MacLaren, a young woman of the town. They fall in love. But she can’t leave Brigadoon to follow him because that would mean the town will never get up from its hundred years slumber and will disappear forever. Tommy reluctantly goes home to his fiancé where he has to consider what is more important: marrying the rich boss’s daughter or follow his heart and stay in Brigadoon to be with Fiona.

The Production. Pam Johnson’s set of the Scotland forest and the village of Brigadoon is surprisingly dull in browns and dark greens. There is no sense of the magic of that place. Corwin Ferguson has a projection of an animated deer appear on the scrim and then quickly flits off. The deer appears twice in succession. Then another projection of the American flag appears and dissolves into a scene of soldiers marching off to war. After that Tommy (George Krissa) and Jeff (Mike Nadajewski) appear stage right carrying rifles because they’ve come to Scotland to hunt and relax from the horrors of war.

Let’s pause here, shall we. Tommy is shaken by war and killing. Yet he comes to Scotland to hunt. He carries a rifle to do it as does Jeff. What is wrong with this picture? We are told that a revised book by Brian Hill was needed to ‘update’ Alan Jay Lerner’s version so that we can see how war has affected Tommy. In case we don’t get that message we need projections of a deer flitting and soldiers marching to help those deficient of an imagination. I’m getting a headache from gritting my teeth. Why doesn’t director Glynis Leyshon trust the audience to get it?

Miraculously Brigadoon appears in the forest. Tommy and Jeff can’t find it on the map. They decide to walk towards it. And then they both walk up the aisle of the theatre away from where the image of the village has appeared on stage.  Ok, I’m trying to suspend my disbelief here.

To make matters even more confusing, townsfolk walk down the aisle to the village. Honest, I am trying to suspend my disbelief.

Tommy and Jeff next appear back on stage walking towards the village where they join the folks in celebrating a wedding, meeting the citizens and in the case of Tommy, falling in love with Fiona MacLaren (Alexis Gordon). He wants to marry her but she can’t follow him to New York because that will be the end of Brigadoon. Tommy returns to New York and his fate. Or does he?

Trouble arises when a young man named Harry Beaton (Travis Seetoo) is thwarted in his love for Jean MacLaren (Madelyn Kriese). She is marrying Charlie Dalrymple (Matt Nethersole) and Harry expresses his anger at being shunted aside. He threatens to leave Brigadoon and thus end its existence. So Harry rushes up the aisle away from the Brigadoon (I must confess I asked myself, “where are you going? The parking lot? The ice-cream shop? Virgil? WHERE???). A few minutes later he appears on stage in the forest. Ok, I give up. I can’t suspend my disbelief, except at how inept this production is directed and staged. Ridiculous.

Travis Seetoo as Harry then dances a mournful, lovely Scottish dance—graceful and elegant. But then he turns, trips over a small ledge and well he does himself a terrible, final injury. Graceful to dance but a ledge defeats him. Oy.

Linda Garneau’s choreography is one of the best aspects of this production. It’s lively, joyful, romantic and sensitive. It realizes the musical’s intentions every time there is dance. “Come to Me, Bend to Me” is particularly effective. Charlie wants to see Jean before the wedding. A definite no no. But she finally relents and they dance a pas de deux that is so sensitive and full of tenderness, especially the last embrace.

I do have a quibble that seems to be present across many classic musicals productions. A couple begin singing a tender love song to each other. In Charlie’s case he is initially singing to Jean through a closed door. But then he comes downstage and sings it to the audience and not the door, even when she comes out and stands behind him. I never understand why. Why doesn’t the song get sung to the person for whom it was meant? But what we have is the person upstage being sung to and the person singing the song, downstage, so the person upstage is looking at a back instead of into the eyes of the love. Nuts. Alexis Gordon is wonderful as Fiona MacLaren who falls in love with Tommy, the American. Gordon is winsome, bright, engaging and always makes the people with whom she is acting seem better. Alas this does not apply to George Krissa as Tommy. There is not that spark of attraction between them as there is for other characters. Krissa is strapping and sings well, but seems more comfortable when he is playing scenes with Mike Nadajewski who plays Jeff Douglas. Nadajewski has such variation as an actor. As Jeff he is cynical, sarcastic, witty, perceptive and street smart.

Comment: Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe wrote romantic musicals like no others. The music was lush and the lyrics were poetic, lyrical and touched the heart. What can be more romantic and heart squeezing than a musical about two people who fall in love who are from two different worlds, and for whom one must make the ultimate sacrifice to leave everything behind to be with that one true love. For that fierce love look no further than Brigadoon. How disappointing them that the Shaw Festival’s production of Brigadoon is plodding, dull, gloomy, geographically confusing and too often devoid of the tingle of romance, in spite of some fine performances.The Shaw Festival Presents:

Began: May 5, 2019.

Closes: Oct. 13, 2019.

Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes.

www.shawfest.com

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At the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre

Created and performed by Ronnie Burkett

Music composed by John Alcorn

Dramaturge, Matt McGeachy

Puppets designed and created by Ronnie Burkett

Costumes by Kim Crossley

A new Ronnie Burkett show is cause for anticipation, certainly because he hasn’t played Toronto in a few years. It’s been too long.

Forget Me Not is Burkett’s latest show and it is his most ambitious. It takes place in the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre and at the best of times, when there is proper seating, it’s vast. For Forget Me Not the room is bare except for some benches in a semi circular configuration, with the occasional chair scattered around the benches at one end of the space. That makes the space seem even larger.

We are allowed in the space at 7 pm which should have been show-time. We leave our backpacks etc. at tables close to the entrance then wend our way to the other end of the space for a seat on a bench or a chair. We are told that the audience will be moving around the space during the show. At 7:10 pm the door at the other end of the room opens and a large-cloaked, hooded figure slowly walks to our end, reciting a story in rhyming couplets about a knight and a fair maiden. As the person gets nearer we see that the face is obscured by a black veil. He is our narrator. He is Ronnie Burkett.

With a few passes around the benches and the chairs Ronnie Burkett takes off the cloak and reveals himself in khaki pants, a black shirt and shoes. The puppets he uses appear from a large wood structure. Many are hand puppets, some are marionettes manipulated by wire.

He gives willing audience members a hand puppet with the understanding they will take care of it and give it back at the end, or if they don’t it will prevent the show from ‘being true.’ One daren’t disappoint him by keeping the beautifully made puppets.

The audience raises their hands, some with the puppets when asked. Nearly the whole audience participates by following him around the space like a pied piper with his followings, and engaging in the activities that are suggested by Burkett. But one wonders what is to be gained by involving the audience in this way? Are they part of the dark world?

From the press information: “Welcome to “The New Now”, where written words are forbidden and an underground movement of hand-drawn love letters is a powerful act of defiance.  

Those determined on composing or reading a written declaration of love must first make a treacherous journey to a secret and illegal camp to find She, The Keeper of the Lost Hand, and one of the last people to retain the knowledge of reading and writing in cursive.  

While pilgrims brave the harsh conditions to find their way to She, the tale of Zacko Budaydos and His Dancing Bear unfolds in parallel, illustrating the turmoil of “The Before” when all the travelling performer had to rely on was his wit, love and knowledge of the outlawed language of Polari to survive.   

Unlike anything you’ve ever seen, Forget Me Not is a tender, absurd, romantic, and provocative call-to-arms for poetry and the enduring power of love.”

And for all Burkett’s mastery and artistry of the puppets etc. this story is so confusing that one tends to lose the thread too often. It doesn’t help that the space is unforgiving. The acoustics are lousy if Burkett is facing away from you. You can’t hear what he’s saying. And while Burkett has a dramaturge in Matt McGeachy the piece needs judicious cutting to tame the meandering story and focus the intent. It’s a problem I have found with a lot of his shows, masterful though they are. At times there are conversations between characters that seem like an endless loop of one accusing and the other denying something and moving forward seems impossible.

As with all Ronnie Burkett shows, Forget Me Not is funny, dark in nature, thoughtful, brooding and full of Burkett’s conscience and heart. I just wish it was clearer.

Produced by Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes

Opened: June 5, 2019.

Closes: June 23, 2019.

Running Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes.

www.luminato.com

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At the Junction City Music Hall, 2907 Dundas St. W., Toronto, Ont.

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Drew O’Hara

Choreography by Jade Douris

Designed by Catherine Rainville

Cast: Hilary Adams

Daniel Briere

Michael Chiem

Olivia Croft

Jade Douris

Aubree Erikson

Kaleb Horn

Brittany Kay

Justin Mullen

Cara Pantalone

Lesley Robertson

Hallie Seline

Jonny Thompson

Pure Joy!!!

 The Story. It’s complicated, but at its heart As You Like It is about romance, dysfunctional families, jealous brothers, cross dressing and love when you least expect it.  Duke Frederick has banished his brother Duke Senior because he wants to rule the dukedom. Duke Senior and his courtiers find safe haven in the Forest of Arden. In the meantime, Duke Frederick allows his niece Rosalind to live in the palace because Rosalind is close with Duke Frederick’s daughter, Celia. Duke Frederick even turns sour on Rosalind and evicts her from the palace. In defiance Celia leaves as well. Both women escape to the Forest of Arden. Rosalind dresses as a man for protection. Celia does not. Before they leave Rosalind and Celia see Orlando, a young man fight a man named Charles in a contest and Rosalind falls in love with Orlando. Orlando also has a mean brother, Oliver, and after several slights Orlando leaves the dukedom and goes to the Forest of Arden as well. They all meet up in the Forest. (It must be getting pretty crowded there). Rosalind in disguise as a man agrees to help Orlando practice wooing Rosalind, should he ever see her again. So, yeah it’s complicated and loving and very funny.

The Production. As with all Shakespeare BASH’d productions, this one takes place in a bar with the audience on two sides of the long playing area. The lights are up on the proceedings and the action is so close to the audience an instant sense of intimacy results. This intimacy certainly exists when a character sits next to you and engages you with a knowing look (and since one is polite, one returns the look).  There are a few props, perhaps a table, with a stage of sorts at one end of the long room. Two musicians, both impish (Hilary Adams and Kaleb Horn) play guitar and sing from the stage at the beginning. They also act in the play.

Director Drew O’Hara establishes the humour of the piece immediately by having Charles (Jonny Thompson) (the person Orlando will fight once the show starts) jog out, his hair in a man-bun, he wears sweat pants and leads a group of women and a few men in sweat gear in calisthenics, There is a lot of heavy breathing from the cast as Charles leads them through their paces. Then just as quickly they jog/prance off.

O’Hara mines the play for every nugget of humour and humanity. A wink from Orlando (a passionate, honourable Justin Mullen) to Rosalind (Hallie Seline) speaks volumes about affection and connection. The scene change from the Duke’s court to the lush foliage of the Forest of Arden is the best I’ve ever seen and is done in a burst of imagination, energy and music. The forest dwellers, lead by Duke Senior (a charming Daniel Briere who also plays Duke Senior’s mean, ill-tempered brother Duke Frederick) who wears an orange shirt, beads, dark pants and shoes with no socks and the others who carry hanging plants that are hung around the space along with garlands of leaves. A wood table also appears—voila in a thrice, the Forest of Arden. Dazzling.

Various characters fall in love with other characters not realizing they are hiding something: Orlando falls in love with Rosalind and is tutored in loving by Rosalind in disguise as a young man; Phoebe (a wonderfully forthright Brittany Kay), a young peasant girl falls in love with the young man who is really Rosalind in disguise; Silvius (a sweet Michael Chiem) loves Phoebe. Rosalind played with a keen sense of humour and girlish enthusiasm by Hallie Seline, promises each lover that they will marry the one they want if possible and they “will be married tomorrow. To illuminate the complexity of the relationships O’Hara has the four characters flit across each other as Rosalind mentions them in turn. That staging is clever and telling. The connection of affection between Hallie Seline’s Rosalind and the eager, enthusiasm of Justin Mullen as Orlando, is touching and at times and full of the ache and intoxication of new love. Lovely work from both. Acting as a kind of thoughtful and lively presence for Rosalind is Celia, Rosalind’s cousin, played with watchful, smart, smiling joy by Jade Douris.

There is considerable gender-bending casting: Aubree Erickson plays a prickly Oliver who wants to keep “her” brother Orlando subservient; Cara Pantalone plays old Adam, a loving servant to Orlando among other characters to lovely comic effect; Olivia Croft plays a rather mirthful, sarcastic Jacques who is not as melancholy as one might expect but says that he is not that kind of “melancholy”; Lesley Robertson is a lively, quick-witted Touchstone; and Jonny Thompson lets down his man-bun as Charles to play Audrey, a moon-faced, innocent who falls for Touchstone. It’s all done with style and beautifully placed physical humour.

It’s a wonderfully rendered, joyful, loving, often moving production. And they provide the perfect ending when the whole cast sings at the end, playing ukuleles. Perfection.  .

Comment. Shakespeare BASH’d is a small but mighty company that produces two Shakespeare productions a year in bars. The productions are bare-bones but never stint on brains, intelligence, rigor and respect for the playwright and his work. Their productions burst with the life of the plays. Their shows always sell out but they invite you to come down and they will try and get you in. One doesn’t expect less from a company that always thanks its audience for coming and ‘don’t forget to tip your bartender.”

Produced by Shakespeare BASH’d

Opened: April 23, 2019.

Closes: April 28, 2019.

Running Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

www.shakespearebashd.com

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