Check out Parts 1 & 2 of our SketchFest coverage. The Defiant Thomas Brothers This American duo clearly prides itself on being edgy (just look at that promo shot :s) and they are edgy. I would even say they mostly walk the line successfully of shock factor without toppling over into tastelessness. A street corner […]
Vest of Friends A four-guy group in ugly vests, Vest of Friends hit the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival with a goofy and superficial set full of boyish observational humour- “what’s with the grunt at the end of the Home Improvement theme song?!”- and silly wigs. Their entry into the unofficial “killing one of our troupe […]
Blood Weddings is currently on stage at Buddies in Bad Times. Federico García Lorca’s play is a classic, and has a rightful place in theatre history, but is a difficult play to stage in part because it is so stylized. It is the story of three families: a Mother (Beatriz Pizano) and her son the […]
Tom and Erica It all starts in the darkness, a tiny stage in front of you and the shuffling of a restless audience waiting for the comedian to come on stage. The Toronto Sketch Festival was created 10 years ago with a clear mission: to make Toronto a funnier place to be. As part of […]
When the curtain rises, the stage is a blur of muted greys, of bland beiges. Bodies trundle to and fro with shuffling urgency to a discordant jumble of notes – the soundtrack as dissonant and buzzing as the crowd itself. The monotony of city life and the stark existence of the working class person’s crushing […]
Anton Piatigorsky’s Breath in Between is playing in Crow’s Theatre’s brand new studio space until the end of the week but I’m still trying to figure out how it got there in the first place. Crow’s Artistic Director Chris Abraham is someone I associate, above all, with good taste. His own productions are always impeccably […]
I got far too hyped discussing the last big Hamlet and, worst of all, it ended up not being that big—Cumberbatch was competent, but the production didn’t generate discussion beyond theatre demography and the post-show ‘fuck the politicians’ appeal. This one, in the Almeida’s tight proscenium, is far larger, in thought rather than aspect, and […]
Virtual reality is one of those things that most of us are aware of, but for many (me included), its uses don’t appear to extend much beyond teenage boys wearing a headset and playing the latest video game. In Lindsey Ferrentino’s new play, the technology is presented as an antidote to physical pain, specifically the […]