ArtsVox

Clown sisters Morro and Jasp are back (performing in the newly minted Ante-Chamber space at the Next Stage Festival) with their own brand of cooking show – part Iron Chef, part Julia Child, all hilarious. Here are the ladies behind the famous red noses with their thoughts on how they are living proof of the old adage about “too many cooks in the kitchen”, their recently found love of site-specific theatre, and the tantalizing possibility of a future dramatic “Morro and Jasp” show.

For tickets and more information, head over here.

When you see Alistair Newton’s name – or that of his company, Ecce Homo Theatre – associated with a project, you can be certain you will be in for a highly theatrical, heavily researched, and critically minded piece of stage work. His refined Next Stage Festival remount of Loving the Stranger, which chronicles (among other things) the story of gay concentration camp survivor and artist, Peter Flinsch, is no exception. Here is our conversation with Alistair, including his thoughts on the dangers of apathy, the dichotomous nature of Weimar-era Germany, the political value of entertainment, and how an 89 year old man decorates his kitchen cupboards.

For tickets and more information, head over here.

Kat Sandler and her company, Theatre Brouhaha, are having a pretty good year. Not only is the remount of her timely and imaginative 21st century relationship dramedy, LoveSexMoney, currently playing at the Next Stage Festival, but her new work, Help Yourself, won the Toronto Fringe Festival’s coveted New Play Contest and will be sure to be an early attention grabber at this summer’s festival. Here is Kat (and friends) with their thoughts on love and intimacy in the digital age, how the internet has raised our standards for romance, and sex robots – really.

For tickets and more information, head over here.

Sometimes the only thing better than a goofy genre movie, is an equally goofy send-up of said genre. Renaissance woman of the stage, Allison Beula, has put together such a send-up with her loving parody of the 60’s surf movie, curtly titled The Tiki Bikini Beach Paradise Party A-Go-Go. This perfectly crafted cheese-fest first took the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival by storm (check out our review here), and is back to warm the winter-braving crowds at The Next Stage Festival. Here is Allison with her thoughts on why surf movies are so bad they’re good, the advantage of taking on all the key creative roles, and how the perfect musical collaborators can sometimes just fall in your lap.

For tickets and festival information, head over here. For more information about the show, head over here.

The Next Stage Festival is underway and Jessica Moss is already garnering some very positive attention for her high-energy and laugh-out-loud funny take on romance in the age of facebook and twitter, Modern Love. Here is our conversation with Jess, her thoughts on her love/hate relationship with the internet, why fast paced performances have never been daunting to her, and how live theatre can be an antidote to solitude. Forgive the noisy audio, Shanghai Cowgirl is a busy place on a Friday night.

For tickets and details, head over here.

Here is a tasty leftover to mark the start of the Next Stage Festival:  Our interview with sketch troupe and perenial  audience favourite, Uncalled For, recorded earlier this year at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. Key members, Matt, Dan, and Anders, share their thoughts about political comedy, the divisions (or lack thereof) between sketch and theatre, and their return to Toronto for this month’s Next Stage Festival with their smash hit show, the delightfully surreal Hypnogogic Logic.

For tickets and details, head over here.

With the holidays just around the corner, one cannot do much better in the way of seasonally heartwarming theatre (without crossing over into saccharine schmaltz) than Soulpepper’s charming revival of Miklós Laszló’s romantic comedy of errors, Parfumerie. We had a chance to talk to Parfumerie’s star – and Soulpepper regular – Oliver Dennis, about his role in this timeless play, young love in the age of Google, and why you don’t need dialogue to leave an impression with an audience.

For tickets and more information about Parfumerie, head over to the Soulpepper website here.

We had a chance to sit down with the illustrious Hannah Moscovitch to get her thoughts on The Children’s Republic, its fascinating subject – progressive pedagogue Janusz Korczak – as well as her unique take on the state of Canadian playwriting. Have a listen below!

For tickets and more information about The Children’s Republic (now playing at the Tarragon Theatre), head over here.

It’s rare to see an original Canadian musical gain the notice and momentum that Ride the Cyclone has, so we were particularly pleased to have a chance to talk with c0-creator Jacob Richmond, and co-star Elliot Loran about the history to date of this phenomenon of a show, as well as its potential future. We take some delightful detours along the way, touching on points like why Victoria BC used to be considered the Satanist capital of the world, why Carnies make midway rides more terrifying, and the existence of a twenty minute Space-Cat rock opera that had to be left on the cutting room floor. Have a listen below (split into three parts)!

For tickets to Ride the Cyclone, head over to the Theatre Passe Muraille site here, and for more information about the show, check out the official website here.

We’ve been hitting up the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and getting some great behind the scenes thoughts from this year’s participating artists. Here are the sharp witted Paul Bates and Doug Morency from The Williamson Playboys on their origins, how get away with being so likeably offensive, and why bigger isn’t always better – at least when it comes to high school band.

For tickets and more information about The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, head on over here: http://www.torontosketchfest.com/

We’ve been hitting up the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and getting some great behind the scenes thoughts from this year’s participating artists. Here are the always delightful Matt Baram, Naomi Snieckus, and Ron Pedersen who together make up The National Theatre of the World. We chat about their move from improv to scripted material, some extraordinarily shameless plugging, and the definition of Parcheesi.

For tickets and more information about The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, head on over here: TorontoSketchFest.com

We’ve been hitting up the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and getting some great behind the scenes thoughts from this year’s participating artists. Here are Mike Kiss and Ted Sutton from Deadpan Powerpoint on their chemistry as performing partners (or lack thereof), the joys of a live audience, and their mad google image search skills.

For tickets and more information about The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, head on over here: TorontoSketchFest.com

We’ve been hitting up the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and getting some great behind the scenes thoughts from this year’s participating artists. Here are Nick Chenosky and Craig Scorgie from London Ontario’s Good Game on defying punchline expectations, the appeals of the big city, and knowing your audience.

For tickets and more information about The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, head on over here: TorontoSketchFest.com

We’ve been hitting up the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and getting some great behind the scenes thoughts from this year’s participating artists. Here is Ian MacIntyre from Approximately 3 Peters on the rise of nerd-dom, the problem with working with people who think like you, and why hard work sometimes does pay off.

For tickets and more information about The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, head on over here: TorontoSketchFest.com

The Canadian Opera Company launches their 2011/2012 season with a visually arresting and chillingly atmospheric production of Gluck’s bright and hauntingly beautiful Iphigenia in Tauris. Under the directorship of Robert Carsen and the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado, this Greek myth turned opera mesmerizes without relent.

The plot of Iphigenia in Tauris is not a simple one, and is further complicated by the fact that the events of Tauris are preceded and put into context by an entirely separate and equally grandiose tale, Iphigenia at Aulis (itself a sort of prequel to the story of the Trojan war). Needless to say, Tauris is the type of opera that necessitates a glance over the program notes before the house lights dim. The core of the narrative is this: Iphigenia (Susan Graham), the daughter of a famed Greek general, is clutched from the hands of death by the Goddess Diana, who transports Iphigenia to the isolated kingdom of Tauris. Indebted to Diana, Iphigenia lives as a priestess obliged to (as prescribed by the Gods) do the bidding of Thoas, Tauris’ king (Mark Doss). Thoas, terrified by an oracle’s prediction of his death at the hands of a stranger, orders Iphigenia to sacrifice any newcomers who enter Tauris. Tragedy strikes when Orestes (Russell Braun), Iphigenia’s beloved brother, and his dear friend Pylades (Joseph Kaiser), are shipwrecked on the shores on Tauris, placing Iphigenia in the heart wrenching position of having to either kill her sibling or defy the deities and suffer the consequences.

It’s the type of nightmarishly fatalistic drama that perfectly compliments the operatic medium. The entire creative team embrace this over-the-top quality and deliver a highly stylized performance that works hand in hand with the source material. Director Robert Carsen and his associates present the audience with a sparse production design; the set – essentially a large carbon coloured box marked with a grid like texture – acts as a canvas for chalk, ink black water, and vivid shadow play, all of which are used to great effect. The lighting, designed by Carsen and Peter Van Praet, is equally evocative, emanating from the performers’ feet like the glow of Hades and casting the characters’ silhouettes thirty feet tall.