SHANIQUA IN ABSTRACTION - REVIEW OF WATSON’S PLAY AT CROW’S THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

Shaniqua in Abstraction is a new play written and performed by bahia watson. It is a solo performance and watson deserves huge credit for a bravura performance. Shaniqua is a woman of mixed race with blond hair and dreadlocks. watson takes on half a dozen or more personalities from a modern woman to a nineteenth century slave, to a young mother and microphone-in-hand performer. She adopts different accents, does dance steps and acts with ferocious energy when necessary and more quietly when need be. The performance lasts about 75 minutes without intermission.    

bahia watson as Shaniqua. Photo by Roya DelSol

What the play is about is more difficult to describe. “In abstraction” of the title may indicate that this is not a straight narrative about Shaniqua. There is much said about black and mixed-race women in an impressionistic way so that we get  numerous vignettes but rarely a concrete picture. Watson deals with the relations between black men and white women, black men and black women and white men with black women.

Like a chameleon, watson takes us through the time periods indicated above and the different personalities but being an abstract or an impressionistic portrait there is no coherent narrative. It often sounded like a stream-of-consciousness recitation of memories, or expressions of thoughts that went through Shaniqua’s mind that she shared with us.

The production is done in the small Studio Theatre and there is liberal use of lighting effects and projected videos including some news reports about black women. Warson wears an orange exercise outfit and portrays the many facets of Shaniqua's life or the lives of black and mixed-colour women but the details provided are too numerous, quick and opaque for me to retain more than an impression of what I was watching.

The set by Echo Zhou consists of a chair and a bench with the rear of the stage  used for projections  of shimmering lights, videos of news reports and some titles designed by Kimberly Purteil.

watson’s performance is worth seeing, otherwise be prepared for impressionistic, abstract, stream-of-consciousness theatre.   

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Shaniqua in Abstraction by bahia watson. a Crow’s Theatre production in association with   paul watson productions and Obsidian Theatre Company,  continues until April 28, 2024, in the Studio Theatre of Streetcar/Crowsnest Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, Ontario.  http://crowstheatre.com/

ALL IS LOVE – REVIEW OF OPERA ATELIER’S ECLECTIC PRODUCTION OF LOVE SONGS AND MORE

Reviewed by James Karas

No one can overestimate the talents of Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg because you may praise them highly only to see your estimation needing to be amplified. And that’s one way of opening my review of their current production of All Is Love in Toronto. 

They do provide a gorgeous array of arias about love, mostly from the Baroque era with splendiferous daces  by the Artists of the Atelier Ballet. There are 19 pieces of arias and ballet segments that are done in about 75 minutes so exquisitely, that you simply want more. 

Henry Purcell, Handel and Rameau provide four compositions each and several composers from the Baroque era and up to the twentieth century complete the program. There are two pieces by Claude Debussy (the opening scene of Pelleas et Melisande and the haunting “Nuit d’étoiles”) as well as compositions by Charpentier, Reynaldo Hahn, Edwin Huizinga (who also performs his work for solo violin) and Matthew Locke,   

The gorgeously-voiced Measha Brueggergosman-Lee starts off the program with the All is Love, an aria described as a mix of Henry Purcell and Reynaldo Hahn, created specifically for Brueggergosman-Lee by Christopher Bagan (who is also the piano soloist). It is a perfect vehicle for her luscious voice with beautiful arching phrases in praise of sweet and mellow love. She also sings “Nuit d’étoiles”, a poignant reminiscence by their fountain and of her deceased lover whose blue eyes are the stars and the rose is his breath. A superb rendition of beauty in melancholy.

There are eight singers including Measha and they deserve a standing ovation which, together with the Artists of Atelier Ballet, they got.

 

Soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee with Eric Da Silva
 as Amour and Tyler Gledhill as Morpheus. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Tenor Colin Ainsworth is a veteran singer with Opera Atelier and around the world. He sang “Plus j'observe ces lieux” from Rameau’s Armide and “Where’er you walk” from Handel’s Semele. In the latter aria Jupiter serenades his love Semele and assures her that wherever she sits the trees will crowd to provide her with shade. Beautifully done.

Baritone Jesse Blumberg as Jupiter robustly and authoritatively assures  the mortal Semele to “Lay your doubts and fears aside.” He also sings “L'heure Exquise” by Reynaldo Hahn and the title describes both the aria and Blumberg’s rendition of it.

Soprano Meghan Lindsay and Bass-baritone Douglas Williams perform the touching  opening scene of Pelleas and Melisande. Prince Golaud meets the distraught Melisande by a well in the forest. She is lost and he tries to help her, touchingly done by Lindsay and Williams. Lindsay and Cynthia Akemi Smithers sing the alluring “Two daughters of this aged stream” from Purcell’s King Arthur. The “daughters” try to lure Arthur to share pleasures with them but, like Odysseus and the Sirens, he resists them.

Mezzo-soprano Danielle MacMillan sings “Music for a While” from Purcell’s Oedipus. The melancholy aria assures the unfortunate king that music will beguile all his cares as MacMillan beguiled us. She also sings “Mi Lusinga il dolce affetto from Handel’s Alcina. Ruggiero sings that his beloved delights him but is there treachery as well? A moving and sad aria done by MacMillan.

Some of the arias have dancers participate and the  Artists of the Atelier Ballet perform between the vocal pieces. The choreography, as always and unfailingly beautiful  is by Zingg. 

The Tafelmusik orchestra, a sine qua non for Opera Atelier is conducted by David Fallis. And all adds up to a wonderful, magical evening.

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All is Love is being performed from April 11 to 14, 2024 at Koerner Hall in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto. www.operaatelier.com/

THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK - REVIEW OF BALLET BY LEPAGE AND CÔTÉ

Reviewed by James Karas

“Who’s there?”

Those are the opening words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet but you will not hear them or any part of the text of the play in Robert Lepage and Guillaume Côté’s brilliant balletic version of the play, Lepage and Côté have codesigned the production and the former directs with the latter providing the choreography to the music composed by John Gzowski.

The story of Shakespeare’s play is danced for us by a corps of nine dancers who must convey through movement in 100 minutes what the bard needed several hours to achive.  It is a fascinating, intriguing and superb production that never lags and always fascinates.

The spare use of surtitles gives us a clue as to what part of the play is being represented. Guillaume Côté as Hamlet dominates the production and we see the Prince as a disturbed young man with his friend Horatio (Natasha Poon Woo), his father’s murderer Claudius (Robert Glumbek), in the furious scene with his mother Gertrude (Greta Hodgkinson) and of course Ophelia (Carleen Zouboutes).

The hot-headed Laertes is danced by Lukas Malkowski and Polonius is done by Bernard Meney. The clownish Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are handled by Connor Mitton and Willem Sadler respectively.

We witness the angry scene in Gertrude’s bedroom where Polonius is mistaken for Claudius, killed and his body is dragged out by Hamlet. Ophelia’s drowning is shown with her fighting against a shimmering sheet, a very effective illustration of her death that we do not see in Shakespeare.

The final scene with the sword fight between Laertes and Hamlet is also shown and we see Claudius’ attempt to have Hamlet poisoned by Laertes’s sword. The stage is strewn with bodies in the end with Horatio as the only survivor.

I cannot comment on the quality of the dancing (I am a theatre critic with scant knowledge of the intricacies of ballet) except to acknowledge its beauty and effectiveness in conveying the story of the Danish prince in a different media with extraordinary beauty and emotional impact.

The largely dark costumes designed by Michael Gianfrancesco and Monika Onoszko convey the bleakness and tragedy of the prince and the entire situation where only one person survives. I would have preferred some more differentiation among the costumes to help identify the characters more readily but it is a small matter.

Gzowski’s music is moving, dramatic, approachable and splendid work that deserves a much bigger audience.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Demark is a big and complex undertaking. This was its first production and it played for only five performances. It is a moving, dramatic and splendid work that deserves a much bigger audience.

Who’s there? Well, it’s a brilliant version of a familiar work.

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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark designed by Robert Lepage and Guillaume Côté, directed by Lepage and choreographed by Côté for Groundbreaking Dance Theatre Productions, Showone Productions et. al. played between April 3 and 7, 2024 at the Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge Street, Toronto.

 

RED VELVET - REVIEW OF ARTS CLUB THEATRE PRODUCTION IN VANCOUVER

Reviewed by James Karas

Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti tells the dramatic story of an American black actor doing Othello in London in the 1830’s. The actor was Ira Aldridge who was successful across Europe but in England he met bigotry and critical opposition on a massive scale and despite his popularity was drummed out of that country. He found great success on the continent and died in Poland in 1867.

English actor and playwright Lolita Chakrabarti has written a paean to Aldridge and the play has received a redoubtable production by the Arts Club Theatre Company in Vancouver. Quincy Armorer plays Aldridge with finesse and resonance. We see the great actor in old age in Poland, cantankerous and arrogant and as a young man called upon to replace the great Edmund Kean. He gained recognition as a great dramatic actor but also attracted the opprobrium of the critics and much of the theatrical establishment.

The play opens in Poland where Halina (Tess Degenstein, who also plays Betty and Margaret Aldridge), a young reporter tries to interview the impatient star. The scene opens with the characters speaking German (or was it Polish?). It is annoying and unnecessary but that is the fault of the author and not of the production.

Quincy Armorer, Nathan Kay, Anthony F. Ingram, 

Kyla Ward, and Lindsey Angell in Red Velvet,.

 Photo by Moonrider Productions for the Arts Club Theatre Company

The stage boards open creating a large hole in which a part of the set is lowered and we next see Aldridge in London. He meets the cast of Othello where he is stepping in as a replacement for Edmund Kean. The deep-rooted prejudices and perhaps loyalty to Kean of the English cast against the newcomer becomes obvious. The most vehement opponent to Aldridge is the arrogant and vicious Charles Kean, the son of Edmund. Sebastien Archibald gives an outstanding performance, nose up in the air, of unrelenting hatred and superiority.

Lindsey Angell plays Ellen Tree, the fiancée of Charles Kean and Desdemona to Aldridge’s Othello. In a superb performance, Ellen becomes attracted to Aldridge and realizes the quality of his interpretation. Aldridge believes in a more realistic approach to the Moor with fewer melodramatic hand motions.

John Emmet Tracy plays Pierre Laporte, the theatre manager and Aldridge’s friend who is forced by management to fire the popular performer, we know, because he is black. There is a riveting scene where Laporte tries to defend the indefensible in the face of Aldridge’s powerful but useless arguments against his dismissal.

The vicious racist attacks on Aldridge in the press and some of the actors are more than management can endure and they decide irrevocably to close the theatre rather than continue with a production that is popular with the audience.

The set by Amir Ofek is excellent. Aldridge and his desk are lowered below the stage boards when the opening scene in Poland is over. Backstage in the theatre and Aldridge’s home scene are intelligently designed and we get the idea of a performance on stage.

Director Omari Newton handles everything judiciously and superbly. He illustrates the overdone acting of the early 19^th century as well as giving a fine reading of the play. The opening scene and the closing scene are unclear and unnecessarily unhelpful to the play. But one thing is clear in the final scene. Watching Aldridge putting gobs of white makeup on his face in preparation for playing King Lear is powerful and bitingly ironic.  Chakrabarti, it seems could not find a satisfactory beginning or ending, aside for the application of makeup by Aldridge. The rest of the play more than makes up for these glitches and are forgivable in a first play.

I should note that I saw the play in its final preview and consider it a polished performance.
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Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti will run until April 21, 2024, at Staley Industrial Alliance Stage, 2750 Granville St. Vancouver BC https://artsclub.com/shows/2023-2024/red-vel.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

FATHER TARTUFFE - REVIEW OF ARTS CLUB THEATRE PRODUCTION IN VANCOUVER

Reviewed by James Karas

Father Tartuffe: An Indigenous Misadventure is a hilarious reimagination/adaptation of Moliere’s Tartuffe set in Canada during Expo 67. The would-be victims of the religious fraudster are indigenous Canadians who refer to themselves as Indians at the time of our centennial celebrations in Montreal.

Playwright Herbie Barnes is imaginatively faithful to Moliere but also shows inventiveness in setting the play in a middle-class indigenous family whose father falls for Father Tartuffe’s hypocritical holy roller lies.

Orin (Sam Bob) works for Canada’s centennial bash in Montreal and lives in a well-appointed house with his family. He comes under the total control of Father Tartuffe (Aidan Correia), a fervent religious hypocrite who goes after Orin’s money, daughter, and wife.

Orin’s lively daughter Maryanne (Danica Charlie) is in love with the handsome Valant (Frankie Cottrell) and we are momentarily concerned that true love may be thwarted by parental interference and hypocritical lust.

Tartuffe has his eye and other parts of his anatomy on Orin’s wife Elise (Quelemia Sparrow, also co-director) and he makes a valiant attempt to establish contact with her anatomy. 

                            Quelemia Sparrow and Aidan Correia. Photo Moonirider Productions 

Braiden Houle as Orin’s red-bandana-wearing son Dennis showed anger but no humour. Marshall Veille as Granny had an awkward time dealing with his lines at the beginning but was funnier in the end when he was allowed to crack lines about the rhyming couplets.

Cathy (Cheri Maracle), a statuesque friend of the family was effective and funny as was Samantha Alexandra as Darlene. Barnes adds another element to his play by making Cathy a feisty lesbian.

Barnes’ adaptation and his rhyming couplets are good and there are some very funny lines about Canada’s indigenous people. Cathy, a friend of Orin has one of the best lines when she snaps that she has not ceded her body yet. Correia as Tartuffe was energetic and could remove his clothes at great speed. His attempts to seduce Elise were full of enthusiasm.

But the production in general has a few problems. Most of the actors have problems dealing with rhyming couplets. The lines require speed, enunciation, and poetic diction that most of them unfortunately lack. Without the ease of speaking the couplets, the actors looked like they were trying to walk quickly through mud. The rhyming couplets should propel the delivery of the lines and the action. In this production it did not work that way. 

Directors Quelemia Sparrow and Roy Surette have done much well but apparently could not solve the fundamental problem of the delivery of the lines.

The set by Ted Roberts showed a well-appointed middle-class room. The costumes and hairdos were appropriately 1960’s style.

The directors show some admirable inventiveness. One example is the position of Tartuffe and Orin on the couch as they express their religiosity. They twist and turn until they stop looking like God and Adam reaching towards each other in the famous tableau of the creation scene of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.

How do you finish the play? Moliere had no difficulty wrapping up his play. Well, there is a modern and hilarious solution in this production which I will not reveal.
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Father Tartuffe: An Indigenous Misadventure by Herbie Barnes based on the play by Moliere played until March 24, 2024, at the Granville Island Stage, 1585 Johnston Street, Vancouver B.C.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

THREE SISTERS – REVIEW OF INUA ELLAMS’ PLAY AT YOUNG CENTRE

 Reviewed by James Karas

Many of us who were around in the late 1960’s may recall a news story that dominated the media and was known as the Nigerian or Biafra Civil War. It raged from 1967 to 1970 leaving between five hundred thousand and three million people dead. The region of Biafra declared its independence from Nigeria and the rebellion was subsequently crushed.

The story of the Biafra Civil War is shown in Three Sisters, a play by Inua Ellams in a coproduction by Soulpepper and Obsidian Theatre companies at the Young Centre in Toronto. The play is subtitled “After Chekhov” and is a brilliant work of originality that echoes its Russian inspiration.

The three sisters of the Onuzo family are Lolo (Akosua Amo-Adem), Nne Chukwu (Virgilia Griffith) and Udo (Makambe K. Simamba), the daughters of a general who died a year ago. They are living in a small provincial town in Biafra, a province of Nigeria that, unlike Chekhov’s town, is seeking independence from Nigeria. The sisters are living with memories of their life and glamour of the capital. They have memories, dreams, hopes and perhaps even illusions about life in the great city of Lagos and it is the central motif of their life. They have fervent hopes and dreams of returning to the almost magical city.  

                                 Akosua Amo-Adem, Virgilia Griffith and Makambe K. Simamba 

                                    The three sisters. Photo by Dahlia Katz.

Lolo is a teacher and dreams of changing the curriculum of her school to make it more relevant to their Igbo ethnic background rather than follow what was left by the British and adopted by the central government.

Nne Chukwu is the victim of an arranged marriage and turns unfaithful when she falls in love with Ikemba (Daren A. Herbert), the philosophy-prone army commander.

Their feelings are exacerbated by the memory of their father. Their brother Dimgba (Tony Ofori) is a feckless professor and reckless gambler who is married to Abosede (Oyin Oladeja), a Yoruba woman from a different ethnic group who does not fit with the ethnic group of the three sisters. She is dressed peculiarly and perhaps gaudily and is the butt of jokes. She will develop into a different person during the three years of the civil war and “pay back” the sisters.

The personal lives of the Onuzo family are inextricably affected by the civil war because their house is the hub of activity for the military leaders of the secessionist Biafra. The play takes place on two latitudes, the personal lives of the Onuzo family and the national issue of the civil war.

Army doctor Eze (Sterling Jarvis) is a disillusioned and cynical alcoholic who is ever present in their household.  Nmeri, (Ngabo Nabea) is the idealistic suitor of the youngest sister Udo. Rebellion leaders come and go from the pleasant house of the Onuzo family as matters deteriorate leading to a tragic end.

But hope persists for a while. Lolo the teacher dreams of changing the school curriculum to cover the history of the Igbo nation. But like the hopes and dreams of returning to Lagos all are crushed by reality

Perhaps there is a subterranean third latitude.  It is instructive to recall that Nigeria became an independent nation in 1960 after being a part of the British Empire since 1884. The play and much of Nigerian history reflects the British imperial presence, none of it in complimentary terms to the conqueror.

Director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu does superb work in directing an outstanding cast. This is theatre that is historically important and drama at its best.
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Three Sisters by Inua Ellams continues until March 24, 2024, at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Tank House Lane, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 3C4. www.soulpepper.ca.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

NO ONE’S SPECIAL AT THE HOT DOG CART - REVIEW OF NEW PLAY AT THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE

Reviewed by James Karas

No One’s Special At The Hot Dog Cart is an ambitious one-actor play written and performed by Charlie Petch. A big hot dog cart is on stage and we are told it does business at Yonge and Dundas and at Gerard and Church, two well-known corners in Toronto.  

Petch receives a laudable description in the program listing a long catalogue of achievements and is also described as “a disabled/queer/transmasculine multidisciplinary artist who resides in Tkaronto/Toronto.” He is a “poet, playwright, librettist, musician, lighting designer, and host” and has won numerous awards and distinctions all of which are praiseworthy. My concern is the comment that they/he is disabled and I am not sure what if any effect it had on the performance of No One’s Special.

The title of the play may lead one to expect a play about interesting, perhaps humorous and dramatic events while selling hot dogs but there is much, much more than that in a play that lasts about an hour.

Charlie Petch in No One’s Special At The Hot Dog Cart

Photo: Nika Balianina 

 In addition to selling hot dogs, Charlie (they/he) becomes an emergency responder, a social worker able to help a troubled, homeless person  with his family problems and encounters with others in horrible situations by using  de-escalation techniques.

Charlie describes his work as a 911 responder and then as a worker  in a hospital emergency room and a bed allocator in a hospital. That is a long way from the hot dog cart and the play covers a much wider canvas than my summary suggests.

Petch performs several poems and we hear a couple of songs and have fleeting attempts at psychological depths. Unfortunately, it does not work.

Much of the time Petch speaks in an almost  monotonous voice that expresses a limited emotional range. Raising your voice’s volume is not the same as being expressive. The play tries to cover far too much ground in any event and the chances of reaching all the issues are slim. Speaking over a cacophony of voices does not help. Humour is almost non-existent and maybe we have the right to expect some amusing events at the hot dog stand or in Charlie’s other endeavors.

I do not know under what disability Petch is working and I speak of my perceived shortcomings of the play and the performance with trepidation. But my reaction was that of disappointment.  
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No One’s Special At The Hot Dog Cart by Charlie Petch, a Theatre Passe Muraille and Erroneous Theatre coproduction, continues March 23, 2024, at Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto, Ontario. www.passemuraille.on.ca

 James Karas is the Senior Editor – Culture of The Greek Press. This review appeared in the newspaper.

ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD - REVIEW OF PLAY AT CAA THEATRE

 Reviewed by James Karas

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as anyone who has seen Hamlet knows, are two non-entities in Shakespeare’s play and the title of Tom Stoppard’s play is a line from that play. Despite the title, Stoppard has given the two friends more life on the stage and on film than the two fictional characters could ever have imagined.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been invited to Elsinore by King Claudius to figure out why Prince Hamlet is acting strangely. Eventually  they are sent to England with Hamlet to deliver a letter to the English King telling him to kill Hamlet. Hamlet discovers the letter and changes it to read that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are to be executed.

Shakespeare has some fun with the duo but Tom Stoppard has created a funny, complex and wonderful play around the dumb pair. Nova Scotia’s Neptune Theatre has landed two superb actors to play the lead roles and David Mirvish has brought the production to Toronto at the CAA Theatre.

The Neptune production has thirteen actors but it can be done with many more. The main characters of Shakespeare’s play appear but Rosencrantz and Guildenstern dominate the play. In that regard Director Jeremy Webb has the fortune of having Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, two outstanding actors in the lead roles. Webb delivers a superb production that brings out the comedy and the complexity of the play with a light touch.

Photo Credit: @stoometzphoto

The opening scene sets the stage and the comic and intellectual level of the play superbly. Monaghan’s Rosencrantz and Boyd’s Guildenstern are playing what appears to be a mindless game. They flip coins. Rosencrantz calls ‘heads” and he wins consistently. This goes on for some ninety tosses and the coin never lands on “tails.” Have the laws of probability ceased to apply? Guildenstern wonders. They may wonder about philosophical issues but they don’t know where they are nor where they are going. Aha! They received an invitation to go to Elsinore where Hamlet (Pasha Ebrahimi), their university friend in Germany has returned because his father has been killed and his mother Gertrude has married his uncle King Claudius who has usurped the throne.

They meet a troupe of actors known as the Tragedians who are headed for Elsinore. They are headed by one called The Player (a feisty, quick-witted and agile Michael Blake).  

At Elsinore they meet King Claudius (Jonathan Ellul) and Gertrude (Raquel Duffy) who mistake the identity of their guests.  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have to correct her as to who they are and they seem to be so lightheaded at times one wonders if they can tell who between themselves is who. Very funny and well done by Monaghan and Boyd.

Claudius explains to them that they must find out what is wrong with Hamlet and the two engage in a question-and-answer game as a possible approach to Hamlet. They confuse themselves thoroughly and have no way of finding out what is bothering their friend.

Photo Credit: @stoometzphoto

The two are inept at everything and they find out that they have been selected to take Hamlet to England and deliver a letter to the King. They converse about death, suicide and the representation of death (theirs) on stage. In their confused state of mind, they eventually find out who is carrying the letter to the King of England and open it. They don’t know where they are, wonder if they are dead and question how they will deliver it to the king.

As the play ends, the Ambassador (Mallory Amirault) announces that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead and as Horatio (Santiago Guzman) speaks, the lights go down to end the play. But Webb is not prepared to leave matters there. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pop back on stage where they started. Nice touch. 

The play depends on the cleverness and comic talent of Stoppard but its delivery depends on Webb and the cast especially Monaghan and Boyd. They prove that they are masters of repartee and the presentation of the two characters who may be dumb but are also complex. They handle the dialogue with splendid speed, expressiveness and humour as necessary. The rest of the cast do fine work but compared to the leads have relatively smaller roles.    

Set Designer Andrew Cull uses two sets of rows of seats theatre-style that can be turned around and pushed off to the sides. There is an indication of a ship and they serve as the sets for the play. Economical and adequate. This is a verbal play and requires very little in the way of sets.

We get an intelligent and redoubtable production of a marvelous play.

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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, in a production by Neptune Theatre, directed by  Jeremy Webb continues until April 6, 2024, at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario. www.mirvish.com/

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek press

ALADDIN - REVIEW OF 2024 EXTRAVAGANZA AT THE PRINCESS OF WALES THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

Disney’s Aladdin is musical theatre on a grand scale. It’s in its eighth year on Broadway and there is a touring company going across the United States to venues galore. It’s on tour in the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as Japan and Spain. Disney’s website tells us that more than 15 million people have seen it. Can intergalactic productions be far behind?

It is a popular show and I for one would not argue with the millions of viewers nor the enthusiastic full-house audience at The Princess of Wales theatre last Thursday. They enjoyed a grand show that may not be to everyone’s taste but they would not give  a damn about the opinions of others. Quite right.

Unless you have been living on the outer stretches of civilization you know about the young urchin Aladdin who lived somewhere a long time ago. He meets a Genie who lives in a small oil lamp and Jasmine, a pretty princess and the daughter of the Sultan. He likes her and she likes him but don’t be so impatient.

We have the bad guys too. The meanie Jafa wants to eliminate the Sultan and get the throne. He is accompanied by the silly and very funny Iago. There are ten other characters and an army of singers and dancers in the plot of the musical but I will not hold you in suspense. In a couple of hours (plus intermission) the bad guys are defeated and Aladdin gets Jasmine and we all leave the theatre happy ever after.

Marcus M. Martin (Genie), Adi Roy (Aladdin) and Company 

in the North American Tour of Aladdin. Photo Credit: Deen van Meer

But there is still work to be done so stay tuned. With about 20 musical numbers (some repeats) the evening passes with some nice songs, some loud numbers and almost non-stop singing and dancing. All is intended to generate excitement and give us a colorful show. Colorful is an understatement. Disney has costumes in middle eastern colors, gold and an array of changes that is intended to simply dazzle and bedazzle and overwhelm you. It works.

The show starts with the exuberant Genie of Marus M. Martin. He starts off on a high note and sings “Arabian Nights” with the ensemble and never slows down. We have the evil Jafar (Anand Nagraj) who wants to overthrow the Sultan (Sorab Wadia) and get his filthy hands on the kingdom and Jasmine. He has his sidekick Iago (Aaron Choi), a solid comic character from a different era.

Adi Roy is a handsome and energetic Aladdin and Senzel Ahmady is an alluring and pretty Jasmine and we root for them. They sing the simple melodies of “A Million Miles Away” and “A Whole New World” reasonably well and give us some quieter moments from the boisterous ensemble singing and dancing.

Anand Nagraj (Jafar) and Aaron Choi (Iago) in the North American 

Tour of Aladdin. Photo Credit: Deen van Meer

It is a musical and visual extravaganza and a relentless onslaught on all senses. I could have done with less (a lot less) volume but I suppose it is part of the combined assault that enthralls the audience.

The show is designed by Daniel Brodie and Directed and Choreographed by Casey Nicholaw. There is a small army of behind-the-scenes personnel including an illusion designer, a hair designer and many others. Nothing is left to chance. And yes, Aladdin and Jasmine do ride on the magic carpet.     

For those interested in looking beyond the extravagant showmanship of the musical, the picking becomes very slim. All the characters are cartoonish. There is no room for development and the plot is threadbare, being largely expressed through song and dance with lyrics that are not always comprehensible.  Very few in the audience may care about that and the 15 million viewers may well be thrilled with the sensual experience. If you are looking for anything else it behooves you to understand that this is a show for younger audiences. It started as a cartoon and it retains much of the flavor of that. So be it. Enjoy it.
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Aladdin by Alan Menken (music), Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin (lyrics) and Chad Beguelin (book) based on the Disney film continues until March 17, 2024, at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. West, Toronto, Ontario. www.mirvish.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

GUILT (A Love Story) - REVIEW OF NEW PLAY BY DIANE FLACKS AT TARRAGON

Reviewed by James Karas

Guilt (A Love Story) is a new play that is performed by its author Diane Flacks in a solo performance at Tarragon Theatre. Flacks is a spirited storyteller and gives an energetic performance full of humour and drama. According to a note in the program “Guilt (A Love Story) is a story of a mother’s experience dealing with the end of her relationship and its impact on her family, and the re-discovery of her own sense of self-worth. Her experience is compounded by the many intersections she lives, ultimately unpacking the onion-like layers of what encompass that persistence of guilt.”

Flacks starts with the Bible and the murder by Cain of his brother Abel and being Jewish herself gives us the origin of the feeling of guilt and the specialty not to say almost monopoly of it by the Jews. The character that Flacks  portrays is of course fictional but she has some similarities  to the life of the author. The fictional character is  a lesbian who was married and had children with her wife. Alone on the stage with only a chair for a prop, Flacks gives a highly physical and effusive performance, never allowing the audience to stray from the comic and dramatic stories that she tells.

She tells many stories from brief, almost one-liners to extended ones. She tells us about her child being in intensive care for almost a year. She becomes friends with other parents with children in the same unit and is overwhelmed with guilt and anger when one of the other children is arresting and bey all the lights and noise as they try to resuscitate the dying child. But she is angry because the lights and noise of trying to resuscitate the child keep her child from sleeping.

Diane Flacks in "Guilt (A Love Story)" at Tarragon Theatre. 

Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann/Tarragon Theatre

 Guilt comes from many directions. Her youngest child is upset by the changes brought about by the separation. She tries couples therapy with her wife and it does not work and she would not recommend it.

She and her wife chose an “open” relationship and she meets and is pursued by a much younger woman that she calls a “racehorse”. She tries to resist the overwhelming attraction but succumbs.

Let’s not forget that there are some Jews that would make you ashamed or is it feel guilty of being Jewish. How about Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, and Woody Allen?

When she and her wife separated, they decided to take turns staying in the house to look after the two children. Her wife did not want her to sleep in the marital bed when it was her turn to look after the children and Flacks’ character ended up sleeping in the basement while the ex-wife slept upstairs in their bed.

Jews don’t celebrate Christmas so birthdays are more important. On birthdays the family made a big fuss waking the birthday person with cake and  singing “Happy Birthday.” On her birthday she was sleeping in the basement and she heard the family moving about upstairs and expected them to come down with a cake. They didn’t and left for the day. Her ex-wife had not organized a birthday celebration for her and she phoned her new partner/ lover for solace.

Guilt is a rich and amazing play and Flacks’ ability to deliver the whole thing alone is nothing less than a bravura performance. She gives us a fine summary of the play saying "I’m dehydrated, I’m broke, I’m crumbling. I know I should just let go of guilt. But I don’t understand how." But the play does end on an optimistic note when there is some kind of conciliation. Her, the ex-wife, her new partner and her parents take the children for a holiday in the Dominican Republic
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Guilt (A Love Story)  by Diane Flacks, directed by Alisa Palmer continues until March 3,  2024, at the Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave. Toronto, Ontario. www.tarragontheatre.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

EARWORM - REVIEW OF 2024 PLAY ABOUT IRAN AT CROW’S

 Reviewed by James Karas

Several months ago, Crow’s Theatre produced Natal’ya Vorozhbit’s Bad Roads, a riveting play about Russia’s brutal invasion of part of Ukraine and its continuing assault on an innocent nation. Now, with Nowadays Theatre it has staged a play about the theocratic and equally horrific regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Earworm by Mohammad Yaghoubi is an indictment of the theocracy that runs Iran with a viciousness that is reminiscent  of  Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany and so many others. The play has four characters. Homa (Aida Keykhaii) and her son Pendar (Amir Maghami) live in Canada after having lived in a prison in Iran where the mother was kept in solitary confinement for four months and years in captivity. Pendar is shown wearing a University of Toronto sweater and we may assume that he is a student.

The two argue about what the mother should wear when they plan to meet the other two people in the play, Pendar’s girlfriend Fatemeh (Parya Heravi) and her father Mohammad (Amir Zavosh). The liberated Homa puts on a very short dress – I thought it was a bathing suit – and declares herself independent of the archaic attire of scarves and hijab. Her son wants her to be more conservative to please his girlfriend’s father. For the visit she is dressed conservatively but without a hijab or a scarf.

Fatemeh loves her traditional father and is trying to get him to change his ways. The visit begins with some awkward moments and develops into an explosive situation when Homa realizes that Mohammad was in fact her interrogator while she was in prison. It is an incredibly dramatic discovery.

Parya Heravi and Amir Maghami Photo by Dahlia Katz 

There is no doubt about the dramatic content of the plot but I suggest that the play has some basic problems. The dialogue is often awkward, repetitive and creaky. Conversations that have made their point continue for unnecessary lengths. There is a lack of cohesiveness and tautness that takes away from the dramatic plot. 

The actors may have substantial experience but, in this production, they appeared uneasy and unable to communicate with the audience. Keykhaii has a thick accent and she is talking with her son whose enunciation is uncertain. In real life they would be talking in Parsi and the accent should be modified or even almost eliminated. Mohammad mumbles more than he speaks his lines as if he were put on the stage against his will. Heravi’s English is less accented but again there were issues with her delivery and conviction.

Aida Keykhaii in Earworm. Photo: Dahlia Katz

These actors may sound much better if they spoke their native Farsi rather than English. The play can be seen in Farsi with English subtitles and I suspect it would sound much better with the actors not struggling with English. 

The arrest and torture for not wearing a hijab of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini haunts the play and resonates in the life of Homa. Amini is a potent symbol and a haunting reminder of life in Iran. Her subsequent death on September 16, 2022, in the hands of Teheran’s Morality Police could have been Homa’s fate when she was in jail or interrogated by Mohammad. The recognition of Mohammad by Homa as her interrogator is, as I said explosive, but he reacts as if he has not been there or had anything to do with her.

The play falls apart at this point. We get an editorial comment that Yaghoubi finished the first  draft of the play, and there was a suicide but he decided to change the ending.  

Then another scene follows with Homa giving a speech condemning the ruthless regime of Iran. The effectiveness of her speech was reduced because she lacked the eloquence that it demands. Again, I think she would sound much better if she spoke in her native language without the impediments of uncertain handling of English.

The idea of changing the ending or supplementing it is not the best solution. Yaghoubi could use a dramaturge for many parts of the play but writing a version with whatever conclusion he wanted is surely preferable to the awkward notice to the audience of what he did and wanted to do.

Earworm is a good first draft of a play and there was no reason to rush to production of an unfinished script with a cast that felt uncomfortable with the whole thing.

The play is produced by Nowadays Theatre in association with Crow’s Theatre. It is directed by Yaghoubi who is also the founder of Nowadays Theatre.    

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Earworm by Mohammad Yaghoubi in a production by Nowadays Theatre and Crow’s Theatre opened on February 13 and  continues until February 26, 2024, in the Studio Theatre of Streetcar/Crowsnest Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, Ontario.  http://crowstheatre.com/

MACBETH “A Tale Told By An Idiot” – REVIEW OF ELDRICH THEATRE PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas 

You can’t blame Eldrich Theatre or Eric Woolfe for the subtitle of their production of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth  “A Tale Told By An Idiot.”

the murderer of  King Duncan and usurper of the royal crown of Scotland, yes, I do mean Macbeth, considered what he and his wife did to satisfy their lust for power and life itself as a tale told by an idiot and what’s more “signifying nothing.”

Eric Woolfe has decided to lampoon the entire play in an imaginative and unidiotic way that is his conception and is performed by him alone. He is the only performer and he acts out all the parts using puppets. He appears in various attires from wearing ridiculous masks, to holding outrageous puppets and changing his voice for everyone that he represents.

The set in a tiny corner of a tiny theatre looks like the upper part of a well and there are shelves for puppets, masks and other items like playing cards for him to amuse us with. He uses Shakespeare’s text with some modifications when humour is called for but he is largely faithful to the bard. Full marks to Melanie McNeill for set and wild costume designs and Gareth Crew for superb lighting design.

 

Eric Woolfe in one of his many faces. Photo:Adrianna Prosser

We meet the three Witches and Woolfe gives them distinct voices. A rather pathetic puppet is produced representing the Captain who relates Macbeth’s heroic acts to King Duncan, and the Witches appear again telling Macbeth the good news (he will become king) and the bad news (his heirs will not}. 

Woolfe changes masks and dons the head of a nasty-looking woman, Lady Macbeth of course. We arrive at the Macbeth’s castle, hear the plans for the execution of the king and listen to the ominous knocks on the door. Woolfe stabs a puppet and blood (red paper napkins) oozes out and we know that the king has been dispatched permanently.

Woolfe introduces the scene of McDuff’s children speaking in their innocent voices before they are killed and we see a part of McDuff’s pain and anger. Woolfe can be dramatic in his recitation of Shakespeare’s lines and evoke humour at will.

We hear Macbeth in his hubris saying he cannot be killed unless Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane and, moreover, he cannot be killed by a man of woman born. Surprise, both things happen.

The production, directed by Dylan Trowbridge, takes about 90 minutes. Woolfe keeps up a brisk pace as he goes through kaleidoscope of voices,  magic tricks, masks and puppets. It is a bravura performance of a piece of imaginative and wonderful recreation of a famous play.   

Here are Macbeth’s lines on hearing that Lady Macbeth has died and the source of the subtitle of the play under review:

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

That’s pretty somber stuff but Woolfe and Trowbridge manage to give them and the entire play a completely different take.

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MACBETH “A Tale Told By An Idiot” based on William Shakespeare’s play and  conceived and performed by Eric Woolfe in a production by Eldrich Theatre continues until February 24, 2024, at the Red Sandcastle Theatre. 922 Queen Street East, Toronto. https://eldritchtheatre.ca/

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

UNCLE VANYA – REVIEW OF 2024 CAA THEATRE REVIVAL OF CROW’S THEATRE PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas 

Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya was seen in September 2022 at Crow’s Theatre in Toronto. Mirvish has wisely remounted the production at its CAA Theatre. It is a redoubtable staging as directed by Chris Abraham based on a version of the play by Liisa Repo-Martell.

The play is subtitled Scenes From Country Life and is set on an estate somewhere in the vastness of Russia at the end of the 19^th century. Chekhov’s directions are that it takes place in a garden, the dining room, the drawing room and a bedroom/office of the mansion but Abraham has chosen a large, musty room for all the action. It is in that large room that we meet all the characters and consequently the world that Chekhov portrays for us.

Uncle Vanya (Tom Rooney) manages the large estate with Sonya (bahia watson) for the benefit of Professor Serebryakov. Vanya looks rumpled, unsteady, erratic and perhaps a man who is not all there. He steals some morphine from Dr. Astrov with the intent of committing suicide, one assumes, and he is shot at unsuccessfully. He is depressed and a man lost in the wilderness who  falls in love or is infatuated with Yelena, Serebryakov’e wife. Rooney gives a superb performance capturing the complexities of Vanya’s character.

Sonya is the Professor’s daughter from his previous marriage to Vanya’s sister and seems like a lost soul. She is of marriageable age but the only possible target of her love is Dr, Astrov who rejects her. She is a hard worker and finds solace and perhaps a solution to her lonely life in work. Excellent acting by watson.

(l to r) Eric Peterson as Alexandre, Carolyn Fe as 

Marina, Shannon Taylor as Yelena, Tom Rooney

as Vanya, Anand Rajaram as Telegin, dtaborah johnson 

as Maria. Photo Credit: Dahlia Katz

Dr. Astrov (Ali Kazmi) is an interesting character who cares about the climate but has lost his ambition and in the end is indifferent to everything. Kazmi speaks with a distinguished accent and is a man who cared about his patients and the world. He falls in love with Yelena and is rejected by her and there seems to be little hope for him in the wilderness of Russia.

Ilia Telegin (Anand Rajaram) is an impoverished, comic and pathetic former landowner who mooches on the estate. With his long hair and beard, and his bedraggled clothes, he looks almost unhinged and pitiful. Rajaram may perhaps overdo it but perhaps he gives us exactly what Telegin deserves.

The arrival of Professor Serebryakov (Eric Peterson) with his beautiful young wife Yelena (Shannon Taylor) throws the pathetic country life in the mansion into an uproar when he announces that he wants to sell the state and take the money so he can live better. The professor is described as a useless man and an academic who writes books about nothing that nobody reads. Even more important is the presence of his beautiful, young and aristocratic-looking wife. Her sheer presence lightens the scene and as mentioned, Astrov and Vanya fall in love with her. She is a cultured woman form St. Petersburg who studied music  at the conservatory but her effect on “the country life” is passing as she remains faithful to the nonentity that she is married to. Shannon Taylor fits the role perfectly.

As usual, Chris Abraham deserves the lion’s share of the credit for the well-modulated reading of a difficult play. Julie Fox and Joshua Quinlan get kudos for Set and Props co-designers.

A play and a production worth seeing as often as possible,
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Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov in an adaptation by Lisa Repo-Martell continues until February 25, 2024, at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St, Toronto ON, M4Y 1Z9  www.mirvish.com/

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

DON GIOVANNI – REVIEW OF 2024 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Canadian Opera Company has not deprived us of extraordinary productions of Don Giovanni. In 2015 we saw Dmitri Tcherniakov’s original and masterly interpretation. This year we are treated to Kasper Holten’s 2014 coproduction of Mozart’s masterpiece for the COC and four other opera companies including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

At the Four-Season Centre the vocal fireworks start with the bass-baritones Gordon Bintner as Don Giovanni and Paolo Bordogna as Leporello. The tall, blond Bintner display braggadocio and vocal as well as physical agility to please all tastes. Bordogna is not the same size physically as Bintner but he presents a superbly sung Leporello and a fine characterization of the abused servant of the great seducer.

Soprano Mane Galoyan sings an outstanding Donna Anna. This Donna Anna is a consummate liar. She shows no anger or distress about what she and Don Givanni did in her bedroom and then is shocked at what happened to her father without looking at him. She tells some whoppers to her fiancé Don Ottavio about how she was raped and then puts him off for a year when he wants to marry her. She has a marvellous voice, full of lyrical sweetness and Galoyan gives us a Donna Anna to remember.

Don Ottavio, the fiancé (remember) in the hands of tenor Ben Bliss has a marvelous voice, a fine performance and a sympathetic character but he does not stand a chance in the hands of the wily Donna Anna. Nice guys sometimes come last.

Gordon Bintner as Don Giovanni and Mané Galoyan 

as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, 2024, photo: Michael Cooper

Soprano Anita Hartig has a gorgeous voice and her Donna Elvira, the woman unceremoniously jilted by lecher Don Giovanni, is full of passion, anger and vocal beauty. She gets some expressive arias and my only complaint about her is that she does not display the rage that she says she feels. I have no doubt that Hartig sang as directed but I suggest that along with the passion, the regret and her continuous desire for Don Giovanni, she should be allowed to display some wrath, indeed furor, at the way she is treated.

The lovely and lovable Zerlina in the hands of mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh is a delight to the ear and the eye. Poor Masetto does not stand a chance against her wiles delivered so beautifully. A vocal and acting delight.

Bass-baritone Joel Allison plays a reasonably straight Masetto as opposed to a buffoonish or oafish one that some directors give us. He is no buffoon but he is rightly jealous when Zerlina is tempted by Don Giovanni and he is beaten by him. But Zerlina has him tied around her little finger and he is driven by love and not by foolishness. I prefer this interpretation of the role to a clownish Masetto. Excellent work by Allison.

A scene from the Canadian Opera Company’s production

 of Don Giovanni, 2024, photo: Michael Cooper

The set by Es Devlin consists of a cubic two-story structure with staircases in the center. It is set on a revolving stage with moveable panels. There are numerous projections on the plain panels including long lists of names presumably of Don Giovanni’s conquests and a rich variety of colors. The interior of the cube has staircases and displays great flexibility.

The lighting, designed by Bruno Poet and handled by John Paul Percox for the revival, and the projections designed Luka Halls, plays an important part in the production but trying to follow the changing lights and projections on the set proved overwhelming at times and I feared losing my concentration.

Kasper Holten is a brilliant opera director and the COC has very wisely brought this production to Toronto.

The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and Chorus were conducted by Johannes Debus in an extraordinary and unforgettable production.   
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Don Giovanni by W. A. Mozart will be performed a total of seven times until February 24, 2024, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. www.coc.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press