At Studio 58 until November 30, 2014
Head nurses can’t order electroshock therapy or frontal lobotomies (if they ever did) for rebellious patients as Nurse Ratched does in Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel. But in spite of all our modern medicine and advanced psychotherapy we still haven’t solved the problems of the mentally ill.
Erin Cassidy as Nurse Ratched, Tom Krushkowski as Dr. Spivey and Markian Tarasiuk as McMurphy. Credit: David Cooper
At the York theatre until November 22, 2014
Don’t see this show unless you want to laugh your face off. It’s rude, rude, rude and funny, funny, funny.
Gili Roskies and Benjamin Elliott in Broken Sex Doll. Credit: Bettina Strauss
At Performance Works until November 23, 2014
David Hudgins, a founding member of the Electric Company Theatre and Associate Director at Studio 58, bites off a very large chunk with Small Parts.
Christine Reinfort and Lauren Jackson in Small Parts. Credit: Kaarina Venalainen
At The Russian Hall until November 15, 2014
Peacekeepers? Not always. Playwright Hannah Moscovitch tears off the scabs to reveal some of what was going on with our troops in Afghanistan. Maybe most of it was good. But some of it was bad.
Munish Sharma as Captain Stephen Hughes in This Is War. Credit: Tim Matheson
At Jericho Arts Centre until November 9, 2014
You’re not alone if you’re confused about who are the good guys and who are the bad guys in the West Bank. Canadian playwright Arthur Milner, born in Germany to Polish/Jewish WWII refugees, frames Facts in such a way you will see all too clearly that under the blazing desert sun, it’s all grey.
Jerry Wasserman, James Gill and Mehdi Darvish in Facts. Credit: Doug Williams
At the Firehall Arts Centre until November 29, 2014
Looking for a cure for the grey skies, blustery winds and never-ending rain? Urinetown: The Musical will banish your November blahs.
Michelle Bardach as Hope and Anton Lipovetsky as Bobby in Urinetown: The Musical. Credit: David Cooper
At Havana Theatre until November 15, 2014
Hunter Gatherers isn’t funny, not really. But I bet you’ll laugh all the way to the end. You really have to hunt for a script this funny.
Pippa Mackie and Jay Clift as Pam and Richard in Hunter Gatherers. Credit: Jonathan Dy and Oshy Parasol
At The Stanley until November 23, 2014
The buzz before the opening of the Arts Club production of St. Joan went, “If anyone can breathe life into George Bernard Shaw’s 1924 script it will be Kim Collier” (one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative directors) “and Meg Roe” (as Joan, The Maid of Orleans.)
Meg Roe as Joan in St. Joan. Credit: David Cooper
At The Cultch until November 2, 2014
Okay, I confess: the poetry of bpNichol never did it for me and, worse, I’ve never read any of the poetry of Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton or Steve McCaffery who, along with bpNichol, are known amongst the literati as The Four Horsemen, a 1970s, Toronto-based group of poets.
Jennifer Dahl, Naoko Murakoshi, Graham McKelvie and Andrea Nann in The Four Horsemen Project. Credit: John Lauener
At the Performing Arts Lodge (PAL) until November 9, 2014. Curtain 7:30PM.
Telus tells us the future is friendly. I’m not convinced. Playwright Edward Albee takes a hard look at old age in Pulitzer prize-winning (1994) Three Tall Women and, frankly, it doesn’t look like a lot of fun: incontinence, loss of mobility, loss of memory, and the inability to stop blithering about the past.
Anna Hagan, as ‘A’ in Three Tall Women. Credit: Tim Matheson