At Pacific Theatre until June 14, 2014
If, after seeing Lucia Frangione’s Espresso, you don’t feel like rushing home, whipping up some Calamari Piccanti Calabresi, washing it down with a sassy Italian white wine and afterwards, indulging in some amore right there on the kitchen table amidst the litter of plates and glasses, you probably need a spring tonic.
Lucia Frangione in Espresso. Credit: Ron Reed
At The Cultch, May 18, 21, 22 and 24, 2014
A brighter-eyed, more bushy-tailed bunch of performers you’re unlikely to find anywhere outside of Studio 58. And that’s where How Should You Be? was born; as a project for fourth term students, it was part of the 2013 Risky Nights series.
Cast: How Should You Be? Credit: Rae Takei
Under the Big Top at Concord Pacific Place until July 6, 2014
Ah, there’s something about pushing aside the tent flap and entering the big blue-and-yellow Cirque du Soleil tent: the smell of popcorn, the anticipation of fearless high-flying aerialists, the clowns working the crowd before the show, the music, the lights. It’s the whole circus package sans elephants, lions and tigers.
At Scotiabank Dance Centre until May 18, 2014
An evening with Conrad Alexandrowicz is cerebral. And mind-expanding. Creator, choreographer and director of Mother Tongue, he uses the poetry of Lorna Crozier in The Poet’s Dream, the first half of the evening, and of Erin Moure in our verges <borders>, in the second half.
Vanessa Goodman in Mother Tongue. Credit: Tim Matheson
At the Arts Club Granville Island Stage until May 24, 2014
From the Toronto reviews and the press releases, I expected Kim’s Convenience to be light, funny and entertaining. It isn’t. It’s light, funny, entertaining AND a really well crafted script, a splendid production by Toronto’s Soulpepper and a very engaging look at corner store culture.
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Appa in Kim’s Convenience. Credit: Bruce Monk
At Waterfront Theatre until May 17, 2014
Conceived and written by KC Brown with the RIP! Creative Collective, RIP! is produced by Axis Theatre Company that mounted, remounted and toured the extraordinarily successful The Number 14.
Stefano Giulianetti and Wayne Specht. Credit: Pink Monkey Studios
At Jericho Arts Centre until May 17, 2014
The late 19th century was not a good time to be a teenager in small-town Germany; strict religious and social codes of behaviour kept young adults straight-jacketed while puberty raged within them.
At Studio 16 until May 3, 2014
Here’s one good reason for seeing Iceland – and soon. Nicolas Billon’s script is a scorcher.
Top-bottom: Lindsey Angell, Munish Sharma and Georgia Beaty in Iceland. Credit: Tim Matheson
At Rickshaw Theatre. No more performances.
What are we supposed to make of Mrs. Warren? As a kind of Mother Courage who will do anything – anything – to protect and nurture her child? Or is she a common bawdyhouse madam, living off unfortunate women?
Linda Quibell as Mrs. Warren in Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Credit: Kaarina Venalainen
At The Cultch until May 3, 2014
Watching Glory Die is like watching what faith you had in the Canadian Correctional System die, too. What began as the story of a rebellious, fourteen-year girl throwing a couple of crabapples at the back of a New Brunswick mailman in 2003 ended up with the nineteen-year-old dying of self-strangulation in October 2007 in the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario.
Playwright/actor Judith Thompson in Watching Glory Die. Credit: Wendy D Photography