The Sunday Read: Richard Beaune on The Last Man on Earth (Fringe)

A Physical Silence

Exploring the known of the black and whites

by Richard Beaune

Keystone Theatre will be bringing The Last Man on Earth to Fringe Festivals from Montreal to Edmonton this summer.  Last Man will be the first chance many people get to see the unique work that Keystone has been perfecting in Toronto for the last few years.

It all started over lunch. I had just directed Dana Fradkin in a Chaplin routine as part of the Shakespeare in the Square production of The Comedy of Errors in Brampton. We were getting caught up over Thai food and lamenting how rare it is to find an opportunity like that to explore physical comedy to the degree you find in those classic silent films…so I thought, “Why not do that?” I had acquired a particular interest in silent film when I worked on Simon Bradbury’s brilliant play Chaplin at the Shaw Festival, working with Simon and Neil Munro, and I had a hunch that we could go even further. I made a few phone calls and got some colleagues together to make a proposal. I wanted to create a play in the style of a silent film. I imagined the cast performing in front of a moving projected backdrop, working in silence, with a live piano off to the side. Everything would be in black and white and shades of grey. I pictured it in great detail, and I could see that it could very easily be badly done, but with enough time and work it could be done very well.

The Abominable Showman, June 3, 2012

Stage Fright

Theatre audiences love whodunits – from Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap in London’s West End, to Shear Madness in Boston and Curtains in Montreal, the same city where infamous onetime porn star Luka Rocco Magnotta is the sole suspect in a grisly real-life killing that is living proof human beings continue to be fascinated by murder and the macabre…

By Richard Burnett

I loved London in the 1970s. The city clanged and lit up like a pinball machine, which I adored playing in London Town’s arcade parlours. I was a wide-eyed kid who snuck smokes behind my parents back, loved going to the movies – one of my faves was The Gumball Rally in 1976 starring Michael Sarrazin (an old friend of the late Nick Auf der Maur, the Montreal boulevardier and newspaperman who – incidentally – would become my mentor years later) – and going to see the play The Mousetrap.

Agatha Christie’s famed whodunit had its London premiere at the New Ambassadors Theatre in the West End in November 1952, then in March 1974 transferred next door to the St. Martin’s Theatre which is where I saw it.

Tour Whore, June 3, 2012

Thirty things I want festival patrons to know

by Cameryn Moore

Festival season starts for me next week, with the launch party and Fringe for All at the Montréal Fringe. But those of you reading this piece in other parts of Canada, you can print this out and study up, because it applies to all festival audiences everywhere. These are just 30 of the things that I want you to know:

I really do mean what I say after my show: I will answer any question put to me in the spirit of honest curiosity and goodwill. (Anyone being a disingenuous douchebag, on the other hand, will feel the full heat of my wrath.)

News Roundup, June 2, 2012

Dáirine Ní Mheadhra
(photo credit: John Lauener)

BAD DAYS IN CANADIAN PRINT MEDIA: Postmedia has cut posts in most of its operations including The Montreal Gazette, Edmonton Journal and the Ottawa Citizen. Meanwhile, The Globe and Mail has told its staff to add four unpaid days off to their summer schedules; in exchange, the company will not hire freelancers to fill the hole.

STRATFORD: The Stratford Shakespeare Festival Legacy Award will be given to Dame Maggie Smith this year. Dame Maggie played several seasons with the company, including in Antony and Cleopatra, Three Sisters and The Guardsman. (Source)

OTTAWA: Dáirine Ní Mheadhra has been awarded the $50K Molson award, announced the Canada Council. Ms Mheadhra is the founder of Queen of Puddings Music Theatre. (Source)


MONTREAL: Sherry Bie will be leaving the artistic directorship of the English section of the National Theatre School. The school is now accepting resumés for her replacement. (Source)


SAN FRANCISCO: Writer Steve Galluccio's Funkytown will be appearing at the city's LGBT film festival, Frameline, later this month. (Source)


HUDSON (QC): Hudson Village Theatre has announced its summer season. It includes Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks and Ned Durango Comes to Big Oak. The company's full-time artistic director was let go, at the end of last summer, and the board of directors has rehired the company's founder, Heather Markgraf, to program this season. (Company website)


MONTREAL: Provincial culture minister, Christine St-Pierre, has announced a deal in principle to pump $2.4 million into Théâtre du Rideau Vert for renovations and purchase of the building adjacent to the theatre. (Source, in French)

Review: (Ottawa) Titanic

A Night to Remember

Orpheus scores again with a story of a boat and an iceberg

by Jim Murchison

It is fitting in the year that marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic that we think about it and pay tribute to it. Unless you never listen to the radio, read the paper or watch television you’re certain to have heard something of it this year. There have been many films and documentaries that have explored the history of that fateful night. 

I must confess that before Orpheus added the musical to this year’s schedule, I was largely unaware of it. It is certainly far more faithful to the actual story than the over-hyped, almost completely fictional James Cameron film.  The story itself is so monumental and compelling that there is no need to add some invented and trite subplot.  

Theatre For Thought, June 2, 2012

SPIDER MAN, STUNTS AND MERRICK’S GHOST

joel fishbane

Most Canadians will be watching the Tony Awards to see if the Stratford Festival’s Jesus Christ Superstar will win Best Revival of a Musical (it won’t) or if  Josh Young will win for his portrayal of Judas Iscariot (er…maybe). But the real drama that day will have already happened over at Foxwood Theatre. Annoyed that Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark only received two nominations (for set and costume), the producers are offering free tickets for the matinee performance to anyone named Anthony, Antonio, Antoinette, Toni or Antonia.  Said producer Michael Cohl: “Nothing would make us prouder than to have more Tonys than any other show on Broadway on Sunday, June 10.”

The stunt, which is cute at best, becomes more significant when one considers that Cohl has long been angling for the title of the Next David Merrick. Although he died in 2000, Merrick remains a titan in the history of American theatre. Merrick was the legendary producer of shows like 42nd Street, Hello Dolly! and Marat / Sade and was himself the progeny of other legendary showmen like P.T. Barnum and Florence Ziegfeld. 

Review: (Montreal) On The Concept of The Face, Regarding the Son of God (FTA)

(photo credit: Klaus Lefebvre)

The Face of Controversy

FTA challenges all comers

by Chad Dembski

After reading about the protests that followed On The Concept of The Face, Regarding the Son of God  in Paris I was extra curious about the controversial content of this piece.  Outside of Place des Arts were two adults with large white signs decrying the show and Place des Arts for supporting it.  I was  excited to see this  latest work of Romeo Castelluci after having seen two of his previous pieces Orestia (FTA 1997) and Genesi (FTA 2000) - some of the most exciting, experimental and inspiring pieces of live performance I had ever seen.  The images, sounds and performances from both of those shows have stayed with me until this day and I often speak of them as some of the best examples of avant garde theatre.  

CharPo's Real Theatre! June 1, 2012

Review: (Stratford) You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown

Stephen Patterson (photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann)

Happiness is Stratford’s Charlie Brown

Two Boys, Five Days, Five Plays ends on a high note

by Stuart Munro

As I sat in my seat waiting for the curtain to go up on Wednesday night’s opening of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, I was a little worried. In her director’s notes, Donna Feore talks about using contemporary movement in order to make sure the kids of today will see characters they recognize on stage, and while I agree with the goal, I wasn’t sure I agreed with the planned execution. Could Schultz’s classic, timeless characters work as 21st century youths? Had the 1999 makeover of the show done enough to make Charlie Brown and his companions modern?

Review: (Montreal) Life and Times Episode 1 (FTA)

All The Life, All The Times

FTA asks its audience to endure

by Chad Dembski

When I say a three hour and a ½ experimental musical theatre performance based solely on the verbatim transfer of Kristin Worrall who was asked to tell the story of her life, do you get excited or scared?  It’s a bit like reading a personal blog, you might become equal parts curious, amused, bored, and touched.  Kristin's life growing up in Rhode Island somewhere around the early 80’s (a guess) is like any middle class North American.  She is preoccupied with figuring out who her parents are, finding a best friend, and making it through elementary school.

CPC Picture of the Week, May 31, 2012

David Hou's photo of Yanna McIntosh in Cymbeline at Stratford

show you the absolute craft of the company. Notice the texture of the 

gown (the embroidery), the ruffles, jewels, and even Ms McIntosh's hair style. 

NEWS: Toronto Theatre Critics Announce Awards

Winner Nicole Underhay in Small Room (photo: Cylla von Tiedemann)

Press release:
(Links are to Charlebois-Post reviews of winning productions)

We are pleased to announce the winners of the second annual edition of the Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards.

The TTCAs were established in 2011 to honour the best in Toronto theatre. This year, the awards were decided by critics from The Globe and Mail (J. Kelly Nestruck), The Grid (Martin Morrow), National Post (Robert Cushman), NOW Magazine (Glenn Sumi) and Toronto Star (Richard Ouzounian). 

Productions that opened from May 2011 to May 2012 were eligible for consideration. In addition, the TTCA voters decided to give a special citation to actor Eric Peterson. See below for the full list of winners.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Review: (Stratford) 42nd Street

Cynthia Dale (photo credit: David Hou)

Come And Meet Those Dancing Feet

Stratford’s 42nd Street is flashy, if uneven

by Stuart Munro

There is a fantastic moment early on in the Stratford production of 42nd Street. Cynthia Dale, in her first Stratford opening night for a number of years (following a parting of ways with the former artistic staff), approaches Sean Arbuckle, the show-within-the-show’s director, and tells him how thrilled and honoured and humbled she is to be back on stage working again. The audience greeted her entrance with thunderous applause, and there was a bright gleam in her eye—the obvious double meaning of her lines not lost on anyone. It is an incredible instant of art imitating life in the realist way.

Realism then promptly flies out the window.

Review: (Montreal) The Debacle (FTA)

(photo credit: Scott Munn)

A MOMENT IN TIME

by Joel Fishbane

Enigmatic and challenging, Zuppa Theatre Co’s The Debacle is in many ways the quintessential FTA show.  Now in it’s sixth year, the Festival TransAmérique is an international, multidisciplinary festival renowned for importing the unique and experimental. Most shows at the FTA will defy convention and that’s precisely what The Debacle does, situating its plot-free narrative inside a cramped and cluttered crawlspace that may be real or may be a mere representation of our heroine’s mind.