Stratford started the 2012 season with this very funny one person show starring Rick Miller. You need to know both the Simpsons and the MacBeths to really get all the references in this story of one dysfunctional family playing another dysfunctional family.
Miller is hugely creative and energetic and the result appeals to almost everyone.
I did not know the Simpsons all that well, but I certainly recognised things my sons say and do that I had not realized were Simpsons references.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
You Can't Take It With You
Soulpepper has been demonstrating a talent for old shows that could be tired and creaky, but that in their hands are sprightly and fun.
A friend summed it up when she said she was looking forward to a play where no one died, abused drugs and where she could relax and look forward to a laugh.
Eric Peterson is great as Grandpa, the example of work life balance and proponent of small government.
You have to sympathize with Alice ( Krystin Pelleri) when she worries about how her flaky family will get along with her fiances stuffy parents. Haven't we all wondered the same thing, even if only on a smaller scale? And Alice really does have a wacky family, beautifully played by Nancy Palk as her mother, Patricia Fagan as her ballet dancing sister, Essie; Mike Ross as he brother in law, Ed. Don't forget Diego Matmoros as the dancing teacher.
the other family is equally odd, with Brenda Robbins as Tony's (Gregory Prest) mother taking the cake.
It was silly, but it was fun.
A friend summed it up when she said she was looking forward to a play where no one died, abused drugs and where she could relax and look forward to a laugh.
Eric Peterson is great as Grandpa, the example of work life balance and proponent of small government.
You have to sympathize with Alice ( Krystin Pelleri) when she worries about how her flaky family will get along with her fiances stuffy parents. Haven't we all wondered the same thing, even if only on a smaller scale? And Alice really does have a wacky family, beautifully played by Nancy Palk as her mother, Patricia Fagan as her ballet dancing sister, Essie; Mike Ross as he brother in law, Ed. Don't forget Diego Matmoros as the dancing teacher.
the other family is equally odd, with Brenda Robbins as Tony's (Gregory Prest) mother taking the cake.
It was silly, but it was fun.
Oil and Water
A play based on a true story. a US navy ship goes down, a small community in Newfoundland rescues as many sailors as possible, including one black man. the white coal mining community treat him with the most respect he has ever had in his life because they have never seen a black man before. The experience of this very brief friendship changes him and them forever.
Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland is an innovative company, founded in 1995. Robert Chafe, who wrote this play, and is a primary creator of Artistic Fraud, won the Governor General's Award for Drama in 2010.
I enjoyed this play and the way it addressed the issues of racism and poverty from a number of perspectives. Lanier Phillips, as the young sailor, joins he navy to get away from the restrictions of his home town, but finds that things are not any better when the ship goes down. but when he is rescued, he finds that not all whites are racist, a lesson he carries forward.
His daughter endures the racist taunts of the whites who object to bussing as a solution to segregation. Listening to her describe the rock throwing and obscenities hurled at kids on the bus is perhaps the most difficult part of the show. You want to turn and apologize to every black in the audience, but wonder if that in itself is not a racist reaction.
Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland is an innovative company, founded in 1995. Robert Chafe, who wrote this play, and is a primary creator of Artistic Fraud, won the Governor General's Award for Drama in 2010.
I enjoyed this play and the way it addressed the issues of racism and poverty from a number of perspectives. Lanier Phillips, as the young sailor, joins he navy to get away from the restrictions of his home town, but finds that things are not any better when the ship goes down. but when he is rescued, he finds that not all whites are racist, a lesson he carries forward.
His daughter endures the racist taunts of the whites who object to bussing as a solution to segregation. Listening to her describe the rock throwing and obscenities hurled at kids on the bus is perhaps the most difficult part of the show. You want to turn and apologize to every black in the audience, but wonder if that in itself is not a racist reaction.
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