Frankenstein

It is hard to review this production without complaining about the seats in the theatre. Row H seats 10 and 11 at the St Lawrence Centre are impossible seats. The next row is pressing against your knees for the whole time - so uncomfortable it was hard to focus on the play.
Having said that, even making accommodation for grumpiness caused by pain, I thought there were many weaknesses in this play. It was more an opera than a play, but not a single memorable song came out of it. More like a sung dialogue. I did not like the use of narrators - I am quite capable of following the plot if it is acted, rather than just demonstrated. The use of narrators made the play longer than it should be.
So we left at the intermission.

Having said all that, I thought the play was a visual spectacle. The costumes, the lighting and the staging all combined to make it fascinating to watch for at least the first eighty minutes. We probably would have stayed for the second act if the seats were not so bad.

If We Were Birds

A very powerful retelling of the story of Philomela. This is difficult to watch because you know the women's stories are real and they are still happening.
Tara Rosling is great as Philomela. She ages from young innocent girl to victim and venge taker over the course of the play, and never slips out of character.
Phillipa Domville as her sister Procne is also excellent.
David Fox as King Pandion, thier father,is the archtype of the men who don't want to see what is really going on and who justify their actions in the name of national security.
Geoff Pounsett as King Tereus gives an excellent performance as the man who commits unspeakable acts and then claims it wasn't really his fault, as his blood made him do it.
The chorus of slave women spoke for all women who have been raped, for whatever reason, but most importantly for women raped as an act of war.
Erin Shields is definitely a playwrite worth watching.