For this year’s fringe-a-thon, MONDO is sending two writers on a theatrical whirlwind tour of the city’s stages. Keep an eye out for reviews from Matt McGeachy and Daina Valiulis as the event progresses. The Toronto Fringe Festival runs from July 2-13.
Einstein’s Wife
By Julia Course and Nicolina Lanni
Presented by Einstein’s Wife Productions
Featuring Nicolina Lanni, Julia Course, Brooke Erica Isaacs
Hub 14
Reviewed by Daina Valiulis
Virginia Woolfe asked, “What would have happened had Shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister?” Inspired by this question, Brock University grads Julia Course and Nicolina Lanni wrote Einstein’s Wife — three young ladies acting out what it must have been like for three (apparently real life) women who were revolutionary in their fields of interest. All three women find themselves discredited and dismissed by the male dominated society of their respective times and their amazing accomplishments go unnoticed and uncelebrated.
Performed by Nicolina Lanni, Julia Course and Brooke Erica Isaacs, this was a very cute production. It reminded me of the delightful childhood dress-up games, and this lightness was complemented by the more sombre underlying themes. Stronger body and voice choices could have been made by the three actresses (who played multiple roles), however, I was entertained, touched and happy to have learned something about women in history. Not a must-see, but a solid production with an interesting, relevant, important message.
How to Build an Empire: A Boy Scout’s Guide
By Stacey Douglas
Presented by No More Time for Metaphors
Featuring Stacey Douglas and Diana Yoo
Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace
Reviewed by Matt McGeachy
Seamlessly weaving multimedia with a superbly written script, Stacey Douglas presents a funny and compelling account of Canada’s history of imperialism in How to Build an Empire: A Boy Scout’s Guide.
The show is divided into three different story lines: Sam, a young cub scout sent to camp; an earnest drama teacher; and silhouetted “historica” moments. Each storyline is separated by multimedia presentations of Canada’s unsavoury propaganda, including some real doozies from Rudyard Kipling’s visit at the turn of the century about preserving the “white race.”
As the young scout Sam, Douglas nails the character’s precociousness on the head, and does not for one moment lapse into cliché to bring the character to life. As the drama teacher who decided to present Jungle Book as the Grade 12 play, Douglas raises some of the most important points of her excellent play: that stories exist not only in and of themselves, but are also a part of the larger political fabric of their own time and our time. That is, she delicately asks the audience to take a stand on artistic merit and authorial intention while simultaneously confronting us with our history.
The show never becomes preachy or irritating thanks to fantastic writing and a hilarious performance. Music plays a large part as well, and the band’s various renditions of “O Canada” and “Take Me Home Country Roads” were not only amusing but also proved excellently weaved into the story. This show is a must-see for anyone interested in Canada’s history and good theatre.
Bluebeard
By Pericles Snowdon
Presented by GromKat Productions
Featuring Christine Horne, Kat Lanteigne, Catherine McGregor, Andrea Runge, Rae Ellen Bodie, Melee Hutton
Tarragon Mainspace
Reviewed by Daina Valiulis
Bluebeard is a story about isolation, family, betrayal, apocalypse, and parenthood. The story centres around Blue (Melee Hutton): a Miss Havisham-meets-witch-from-MacBeth figure with messy white hair and an eyepatch. A woman who has been so hurt and disillusioned by her experiences in the outside world that she steals three little girls (Monkey, Rooster, and Piglet) and locks them away in an abandoned church for their whole lives in order to protect them, while a kind of apocalypse happens outside.
Blue creates strict rules by which the girls must live and re-writes history, making the girls “perform” a different chapter of it each day. Until a mysterious figure — a beautiful buttery yellow-clad figure named Magnon (Christine Horne) steps into their melancholy blue world and turns it upside down.
I loved this show from beginning to end: beautifully written and amazingly acted. Each performer had such a unique stamp and commitment; it was an absolute joy to watch. I loved the weighty presence of Rae Ellen Bodie who played Miss King, the girls’ sort of older sister. Her voice was deeply resonant and soothing to hear. There was the playfulness innocence of Piglet (Andrea Runge), the seriousness and loyalty of Monkey (Catherine McGregor) and the beautiful bird-in-a-cage-like longing of Rooster (Kat Lanteigne) to break free. See this show if you want to be blown away by amazing storytelling on all fronts. I might even see it again.
Opera on the Rocks
Music by David Ogborn
Libretto by Leanna Brodie, Dave Carley, Lisa Codrington, Krista Dalby
Presented by The Ambient Opera Society
Featuring Neil Aronoff, Neema Bickersteth, Keith Klassen, Jessica Lloyd
Pauper’s Pub
Reviewed by Matt McGeachy
If you love opera and love alcohol — even if you don’t drink, but still love opera — hell, even if you aren’t sure about opera and don’t drink — why not mix the two for a wonderful afternoon at Pauper’s Pub seeing Opera on the Rocks?
The simple but elegant composition by Ogborn and the hilarious words by Brodie et al., brought to life by the talented performances by Aronoff, Bickersteth, Klassen, and Lloyd, prove that opera is miles away from being a dead art form: opera is life!
The entire show takes place in a bar (go figure) and lyrics about the Toronto Maple Leafs, karaoke, and picking up at the bar provide for a hilarious and beautifully sung show. All the performers have excellent musical pedigrees, including degrees from Yale, McGill, Toronto, and UBC. Klassen, a U of T grad who has been rocking Toronto’s opera scene for the past several years, shines very bright as the bar’s resident drunk. Each performer has clearly masterful vocal abilities and could fill the Four Season’s Centre, but they were masters of their voices and of the space. We all heard every funny note.
All this over two pints of Guinness has reaffirmed my belief that opera is still very much alive, not that I needed much convincing. But for those on the fence, I recommend you get off the fence and on the rocks.
