Openings & Closings – Week of April 3
OPENINGS
These are the shows that are opening in Toronto the week of April 3, 2017.
MONDAY, APRIL 3
SPOON RIVER, Soulpepper
The residents of a sleepy midwest graveyard return to share their funny, gritty, and touching memories to curious passersby. Edgar Lee Masters’ poems of the dead are brought to vibrant life in this moving piece of original music theatre that is ultimately an uplifting celebration of life.
At the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, closes April 21
TUESDAY, APRIL 4
RANKEFOD – WORLD STAGE REDUX, Harbourfront Centre
In Rankefod—the Danish word for barnacles—Kitt Johnson distills movement from the far corners of the natural world. Her translation of this vocabulary onto the human body is so successful, so seamless, that humanity itself appears insubstantial. As it flickers, dissolves and reforms, Homo sapiens registers as a simple biological dance move performed by something much older and deeper.
At Harbourfront Centre, closes on April 8
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5
LEAR: A RETROSPECTIVE – WORLD STAGE REDUX, Harbourfront Centre
Between 2011 and 2014, Canadian theatre legend Clare Coulter performed the role of Shakespeare’s King Lear three times. Each time she was directed by Philip McKee, and each time both of them thought it would be the last; because, in their effort to tell King Lear’s story of generational inequality, of the struggle to both give and receive a legacy, they ended up living it instead.
At Harbourfront Centre, closes on April 9
THURSDAY, APRIL 6
LITTLE PRETTY AND THE EXCEPTIONAL, Factory Theatre
Two sisters and their father prepare to open a new sari shop in Toronto’s Little India. While pursuing their life-long family dream, they must also exorcise the demons of their past together.
At Factory Theatre Mainspace, closes April 30
‘I TAKE YOUR HAND IN MINE’, Chekhov Collective
Theirs was one of the theatre world’s most extraordinary love stories: he a famous playwright and she a leading actress of the Moscow Art Theatre. Inspired by the love letters of Anton Chekhov and Olga Knipper.
At Tarragon Theatre Extraspace, closes April 23
STEER – WORLD STAGE REDUX, Harbourfront Centre
This solo work from the groundbreaking Zata Omm imagines a human trajectory where the boundary between flesh and technology becomes indistinct. What will our bodies mean and look like with the advancement of the technological age?
At Harbourfront Centre, closes on April 8
TRUE CRIME, Crow’s Theatre/Castleton Massive Production
Clark Rockefeller is a real life conman of the highest order, now serving a near-life sentence in a California State prison. And iconic musician and provocateur Torquil Campbell wants to try him on for size.
At Streetcar Crowsnest, closes April 15
FRIDAY, APRIL 7
887, Ex Machina/Canadian Stage
From his early years growing up in 1960s Quebec amidst the rise of the FLQ, Robert Lepage constructs a life’s worth of stories, questioning the underlying mechanisms and relevance of certain memories.
At the Bluma Appel Theatre, closes April 16
THE CLEAN HOUSE, Alumnae Theatre Company
After the unusual death of her parents, aspiring comedian Matilde moves from Brazil to Connecticut to clean the house of married doctors. When the husband falls in love with a patient, the household is thrown into a messy (and sometimes magical) whirlwind of hilarity and heartache.
At Alumnae Theatre, closes April 22
CLOSINGS
These are the shows that are closing in Toronto the week of April 3, 2017.
SATURDAY, APRIL 8
THE EMANCIPATION OF MS. LOVELY, Emancipation Arts
In this hilarious and evocative tale we meet Ms. Lovely at different stages in her life as she struggles with her understanding of herself as a Black woman and awakens to her sexual identity as mirrored through popular culture.
At Streetcar Crowsnest
JACK CHARLES V THE CROWN, Canadian Stage (Spotlight: Australia)
Actor/musician/potter/Aboriginal elder Uncle Jack Charles was born out of Australia’s Stolen Generation—Aboriginal children torn from their families. Now in his 70s, and no longer caught in a cycle of addiction, crime, and doing time, Uncle Jack takes to the stage to testify.
At the Berkeley Street Downstairs Theatre
RANKEFOD – WORLD STAGE REDUX, Harbourfront Centre
Kitt Johnson distills movement from the far corners of the natural world. Her translation of this vocabulary onto the human body is so successful, so seamless, that humanity itself appears insubstantial.
At Harbourfront Centre
THE SEER, commonplacetheatre
The story of a man consumed by his hunt for revenge, and a woman compelled by guilt to lead him. Their adventure unfolds in turns tender and gruesome, but remains gripping throughout.
At The Commons (by Brick & Mortar), 587A College Street
STEER – WORLD STAGE REDUX, Harbourfront Centre
This solo work from the groundbreaking Zata Omm imagines a human trajectory where the boundary between flesh and technology becomes indistinct. What will our bodies mean and look like with the advancement of the technological age?
At Harbourfront Centre
SUNDAY, APRIL 9
THE BODYGUARD, Mirvish Productions
Former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer, is hired to protect superstar Rachel Marron from an unknown stalker. Each expects to be in charge—what they don’t expect is to fall in love.
At the Ed Mirvish Theatre
BUTCHER, Theatre Why Not/Mirvish
A mysterious old man is dropped off at a police station, wearing a foreign military uniform, and a Santa hat, with a meat hook dangling around his neck. As a lawyer, police officer, and translator struggle to unravel the truth, they uncover a past that won’t stay buried.
At the Panasonic Theatre
LEAR: A RETROSPECTIVE – WORLD STAGE REDUX, Harbourfront Centre
Between 2011 and 2014, Canadian theatre legend Clare Coulter performed the role of Shakespeare’s King Lear three times. Each time she was directed by Philip McKee, and each time both of them thought it would be the last; because, in their effort to tell King Lear’s story of generational inequality, of the struggle to both give and receive a legacy, they ended up living it instead.
At Harbourfront Centre
THE MILLENNIAL MALCONTENT, Tarragon Theatre
Moxy is fed up with the constraints of domesticity, and longing for some action. Her long-suffering husband Johnny has decided that enough is enough and contemplates having an affair. A raucous exploration of the social posing, sexual frankness and emotional minefield of the Millennial generation.
At Tarragon Theatre
S H E E T S, Veritas Theatre
Explore the theme of intimacy in it’s many forms through the experiences of various inhabitants of a single hotel room, which inspires and allows its guests their irrevocable moments of truth.
At the Theatre Centre
SOUSATZKA, Garth Drabinsky
A young musical prodigy is torn between two powerful women from vastly different worlds: his mother, a political refugee, and his piano teacher, a brilliant eccentric with a shattered past.
At the Elgin Theatre
iPhoto caption: Vancouver’s Third Beach. Photos courtesy of Sarah Afful
Openings & Closings – Week of January 8
These are the shows that are opening and closing the week of January 8, 2018.
Closings – Week of December 25
These are the shows that are closing the week of December 25, 2017.
Closings – Week of December 18
These are the shows that are closing the week of December 18, 2017.
Openings & Closings – Week of December 4
These are the shows opening and closing the week of December 4, 2017.
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