MONDOmagazine

Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

Communion
Written and directed by Daniel MacIvor
Starring Sarah Dodd, Caroline Gillis and Athena Lamarre
Runs until April 4 @ Tarragon Theatre Mainspace

By Daina Valiulis

Daniel McIvor’s newest work is about a mother and daughter trying to reconnect after years, and the barriers they face, including a drinking problem, a secret that needs to be told, a troubled teenage-hood, a stint in jail, and some fundamentalist religious beliefs — not to mention the balls of fiery anger shooting from both cannons, and a lesbian therapist in the middle of the battleground.

Short and sweet, the piece runs for 85 minutes, which is Read the rest of this entry »

Denise Fujiwara's solo Lost & Found. Photo by John Lauener

DanceWorks presents
Denise Fujiwara and Susie Burpee
Part of Harbourfront’s NextSteps Series
Runs until March 6, 2010 @ Enwave Theatre

By Helen Fylactou

Choreographed and performed by Fujiwara, Lost & Found is the story of the slow progression of a woman losing her mind. Fujiwara exclaims to the audience, “I know I have issues, but who would I be without my issues.” It’s a heart-wrenching performance examining the duality of a woman dealing with mental instability; she’s struggling to find herself while trying not to lose what defines her. Fujiwara appears in multiple outfits and with an empty nest on her head. As the performance continues, Fujiwara begins to shed the layers, enacting different stages of her depression.

Fujiwara expresses so much without much movement — Read the rest of this entry »

image via harbourfrontcentre.com

confluence
Presented by Peggy Baker Dance Projects
Part of Harbourfront’s Next Steps series
Ran February 24-28 @ Enwave Theatre

By Helen Fylactou

confluence is loosely inspired by scientist Lewis Thomas’s essay “Lives of a Cell” and Sylvia Safdie’s artwork on insects. Divided into three contemporary dance works, confluence results in a complex interconnectivity between isolation, embodiment and performance. An original evening of dance, it features two works choreographed by Peggy Baker herself – a new solo and a trio for three dancers, plus a duet by legendary New York choreographer Doug Varone.

The first work of the evening was the solo piece performed by Baker. Titled earthling, it exposes Baker on a dimly lit stage, crouched on the edge of a sloping platform.  She takes the form of some unidentified creature that is drained of all emotion. Her movements are reptilian-like and as she rocks back and forth, she begins to resemble a beetle stuck on its back. Considering Baker’s age, her athleticism and strength is remarkable. Her infamous extensions did not fail to impress. Baker’s tightly choreographed solo reflects how solitary one person can feel despite the fact that they are part of something much larger.

The world premiere and centrepiece of the evening Read the rest of this entry »

People per Hectare (E.R.A. Architects - image via harbourfrontcentre.com)

Inside the City
Part of Harbourfront’s View Points Series
Moderated by Ian Chodikoff

By Tina Chu

When the snow blew me in to Harbourfront’s Inside the City lecture, Helena Grdadolnik of Public Workshop was already presenting her works and was just beginning to delve into explanations of the reactivist and activist approaches to architecture.

Essentially, the difference between the two is a difference between being a problem-solver and a problem-identifier. In other words, instead of waiting for clients to present their needs, the activist architect is someone who actively seeks improvement by identifying setbacks in design, and then engages community collaborators and financial partners to devise a solution together.

Not a right approaches, it is more simply one Grdadolnik prefers when designing Public Workshop’s installations and interactions to examine the use of public space and to help people to reconsider and repurpose public spaces that are conventionally overlooked and/or negatively perceived.

Operating with the same approach, Michael McClelland and Graeme Stewart of E.R.A. Architects focuses the process on conducting research.

In the instance of Community Centered and Inside the City, McClelland and Stewart are specifically concerned Read the rest of this entry »

Hush
By Rosa Laborde
Directed by Richard Rose
Starring Conrad Coates, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, Tara Rosling and Graeme Somerville
Runs February 9 – March 21 at Tarragon Theatre

By Jessie Davis

There are languages we speak in the dark — lovers travelling each other’s landscapes, a child caught in a dream that is both blissful and terrifying.  These are languages we could never reproduce willingly, almost as though they’re waiting inside of us to be tapped at the moment when logic shuts down and we let go of our senses.  It’s the moment when instinct and ancient memory take over and guide us through the darkness until we reach safe harbour.  Rosa Laborde’s Hush has come from this place, appearing as a dream to the playwright and presented as such to the eager audience.

The lines are blurred here between dream and waking life, between Harlem (Graeme Somerville), his daughter Lily (Vivien Endicott-Douglas), his lover Talia (Tara Rosling) and his friend and colleague Andre (Conrad Coates).  Together they ponder the existence of God and debate the concept of a hereafter, all against a backdrop of evolving human relationships and the collective terror or bliss that can accompany those changes. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo of Linnea Wong by Kristy Kennedy.

Toronto Dance Theatre’s Pteros Tactics
Choreographed by Christopher House
As part of Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps series
February 15-20 @ Fleck Dance Theatre

By Tina Chu

Departing for an essay written by Anne Carson entitled Eros the Bittersweet, Christopher House’s Pteros Tactics is an exploration of the instant of desire.

As explored in Carson’s text and House’s choreography, to desire is to acknowledge a lack of something in oneself, thus it is the belief that to attain one’s object of desire would achieve a state of fulfillment.

Pteros Tactics begins with disjointed personal introductions by the dancers themselves, delivering a handful of lines like reciting snippets of personal ads about likes, best features, nice breasts, and being shy but willing, successfully eliciting more than a few laughs from the audience.

A little surprised by this beginning, and more than a bit thrown off, I couldn’t begin to guess where the performance would lead and when the lights dimmed for the last time, I felt uncertain I had been able to follow Pteros anywhere. Read the rest of this entry »

Obsidian Theatre’s Intimate Apparel
Presented by the Canadian Stage Company
Written by Lynn Nottage
Directed by Philip Akin
Featuring Raven Dauda, Kevin Hanchard and Alex Poch-Goldin
Runs until March 6 @ Bluma Appel Theatre

By Helen Fylactou

Intimate Apparel, a love story set in New York City in 1905, follows Esther (Dora Award winner Raven Dauda), a 35-year-old seamstress living in a boarding house with a bunch of teenagers. Esther has found financial independence sewing wedding-night undergarments for women. Unfortunately, the riches of her work belie the loneliness in her life. Esther begins an exchange of romantic letter writing with George (Kevin Hanchard), a stranger that is working with a deacon from her Church. George is a good-looking Caribbean man working on the Panama Canal. He spends his free time wooing Esther and eventually makes her his wife. Esther illiteracy prevents her from reading or writing letters, but she turns to her friends, who are battling their own demons, for help. George’s letters inspire Esther to jeopardize her freedom and independence at the fantasy that she will live a life of passion and intimacy. Read the rest of this entry »

Peter Donaldson as Ned. Photo by Ed Gass-Donnelly.

And So It Goes
Written and directed by George F. Walker
Featuring Martha Burns, Peter Donaldson, Jerry Franken and Jenny Young
January 30 – February 28 @ Factory Theatre

By Kerry Freek

In Walker’s new play, a dispirited husband and wife (Peter Donaldson and Martha Burns) struggle to deal with their identities, their home, their passions and their marriage, despite unemployment and their mentally ill daughter’s demise. Oh, and they both look to the ghost of Kurt Vonnegut (played by Jerry Franken) for advice.

A rumpled, scarred set with grungy, washed out greys and blacks make physical the psychological effects that Karen’s (Jenny Young) condition have on the family. It is an obvious choice that seems cheesy but serves its purpose. Between the numerous scene changes, musical transitions that sound like post-apocalyptic take on the Seinfeld theme play over a darkened stage. Not particularly helpful, but again, not a major blight on the show, especially since Donaldson and Burns turn out committed performances, and Young is believable as both a mentally unstable and well-adjusted young woman. Read the rest of this entry »

roadkill
Part of Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage
Choreographed by Gavin Webber, Grayson Millwood and Sarah-Jayne Howard
February 3–6 @ Enwave Theatre

By Tina Chu

Even without understanding its exploration of agoraphobia and paranoia, I would have felt the same weighted anticipation as the lights dimmed for Splintergroup’s performance of roadkill at Enwave Theatre.

It’s not everyday a dance performance will incorporate a car and a phone booth all in one go. And while the sight of these props on stage was curious enough, seeing performers Gavin Webber, Grayson Millwood, and Gabrielle Nankivell interact with them was something the word curious cannot even begin to describe. Read the rest of this entry »

Eric Peterson as Billy Bishop. (via Soulpepper)

Billy Bishop Goes to War
Written & composed by John Gray with Eric Peterson
January 26 – February 27 @ the Young Centre for Performing Arts

By Kerry Freek

What can you say about the much-lauded Billy Bishop? Returning after a sold-out 2009 run (and many other wildly successful runs over the past 30 years), Soulpepper’s remount opened the company’s 2010 season with a standing ovation.

Surely it’s been said before. These two (Gray, Peterson) are national treasures, still brimming with vigour, even as they age along with the play—and there’s no disputing it. Read the rest of this entry »

Public Realm
Curated by Christopher Hume
Featuring work by Ian Amell, Broken City Lab, Eric Cheung + Sean Martindale, Desire, Rocky Dobey, Tina Edan, Christine Elson, Doug Geldart, Helena Grdadolnik + David Colussi, Josh Hite, Tyler Hodgins, Stuart Keeler, Mark Krawczynski, Marissa Largo + Sean Bennell + Daniel Pierre, Frances Patella, Allison Rowe, Kevin Scanlon, Laura St. Pierre
January 20-31 @ Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts

Review and photographs by Tina Chu
(MONDO does not hold the rights to the original images.)

What first drew me to The Propeller’s latest exhibit was an image of Eric Cheung and Sean Martindale’s Poster Pocket Plants. The last time I’d encountered these plants was around the corner from Bathurst and Harbord. Seeing the works in a new context required a follow-up.

Curated by Christopher Hume, Public Realm turned out to be a noteworthy exhibition of interventions into, meditations on and proposals for public space. Read the rest of this entry »

The winning design of the DSM Young Designer Award 2004, Cynthia Hathaway's lÓffice Perfume. (via the artist's website)

Tobias Wong and Cynthia Hathaway
Co-presented by Motherbrand and the Toronto International Design Festival
January 23 @ Harbourfront Centre

By Tina Chu

Harbourfront’s twelfth installment of the Innovators + Ideas lecture series featured Canadian expats Tobias Wong, now based in New York, and Cynthia Hathaway, now in Amsterdam.

The two designers kicked off the lecture with a photojournal presentation of a trip inside Honest Ed’s. Sifting through holographic clocks, chrome-coloured figurines, ad-hoc signs, and eccentric slogans, what most entertained Hathaway and Wong was the idea that each outrageous item is the result of conscious decisions. Read the rest of this entry »