November 23, 2012

Speaking in Tongues

When a woman goes missing, four marriages fall into a mess of sex, lies, and neglect. Through it all, each couple desperately searches for fulfillment and the line between right and wrong becomes dangerously blurred.

Speaking in Tongues is a thrilling play fresh from Australia; a multi-faceted adventure that reveals the darker side of human nature. The Company Theatre, our Berkeley Street Partners who presented 2011’s critically-acclaimed The Test, return with this intriguing and intelligent play in which nine parallel lives are interlocked by lust, infidelity, and one mysterious stiletto.

www.CanadianStage.com

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll’s perpetually winsome, subversive, cunning and hilarious children’s classic is given a glorious ballet treatment by British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon that is the very measure of the original.

Outrageously, eye-poppingly theatrical, with stunning sets and costumes by Bob Crowley, and set to an energetic, riveting score by Joby Talbot, Wheeldon revisits and brings to the stage many of the familiar characters from the book, but in ways, and in such brilliant choreographic arrangements, that we feel we’re meeting them for the first time.

A co-production with England’s Royal Ballet, the work was a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic when it premiered in 2011, enthralling and astounding audiences show after show with its mind-boggling stagecraft, startling choreographic statements and its perfectly nuanced blend of classical dance and sheer entertainment. And all on a summer’s day!

www.National.Ballet.ca

The Arsonists

Gottlieb Biedermann has a problem. Two strangers have weaseled their way into his home and he’s pretty sure they’re the arsonists who’ve already torched much of his small town.

Perhaps by turning a blind eye what he doesn’t want to see won’t happen. Or will it? Wickedly funny, Swiss playwright Max Frisch’s famous post-World War II political farce about our all-too-human ability to ignore acts of despicable evil gets its Canadian premiere in this not-to-be-missed production from the director and designer of Canadian Stage’s 2009 runaway hit ‘Art’. Stage favourites Michael Ball and Fiona Reid star as Biedermann and his wife Babette. Toronto-based songwriter/musician Justin Rutledge composes original music, performing live on stage with a full band.

www.CanadianStage.com

Terminus

The hottest ticket at this year’s Summerworks Festival and the winner of the festival’s Best Production Award, TERMINUS tells three interwoven stories set in contemporary Ireland, all told in heightened language and in rhyming verse. Powerful, thought-provoking and utterly beautiful to look at and listen to, TERMINUS will be performed at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in a way never done before: the action of the play will happen at the lip of the stage, performed for an audience of only 200 seated on the theatre’s storied stage.

Tuesday – Friday 8PM
Saturday 2PM and 8PM
Sunday 2PM and 7PM
www.mirvish.com/shows/terminus

Cinderella (a RATical retelling)

Recommended for grades JK-6. The true story of Cinderella has never been told before… at least according to her friends — five rats named Ears, Teeth, Claws, Tail and Whiskers. Cinderella yearns to go to the ball to dance the way her mom and dad once taught her. But Cinderella’s stepsisters have a different plan and they don’t want any competition in their quest to marry a Prince! As the five rats tell the story in their own unique way, we discover that it takes hard work to make wishes come true for maybe Princesses, reluctant Princes, selfish sisters and wistful rats! Written by Mike Kenny (The Railway Children), Cinderella is a fun-filled romp with witty songs and inventive storytelling, sure to spark young imaginations. Tickets: $10-$20. www.youngpeoplestheatre.ca

War Horse

NOW ON STAGE! 1912: At the village auction, Albert’s father, Ted Narracott (a poor farmer who has had one too many beers that morning), decides to take on his brother and long-standing enemy, local bully Arthur Narracott. They set to bidding over a young hunter colt. After having driven the price up to astronomical proportions, Arthur gives up the bidding and lets Ted buy the horse.

Over the next two years Albert and Joey, as the horse is named, grow to love and to develop a profound understanding of each other.

1914: War with Germany is declared. The local yeomanry set about recruiting and Ted, unknown to Albert, decides to sell Joey to the army. Major, a local soldier, promises Albert that he will look after Joey when he goes to war: he gives him his solemn word that the horse will be safe. Albert reluctantly lets him go.

Major Nicholls is as good as his word, proving a loyal keeper and friend of Joey’s. He introduces him to Topthorn, a thoroughbred and the finest horse in the yeomanry. The two horses come to find peace and security together, for a while. After Major Nicholls is killed in action the horses are captured by the Germans. Meanwhile, back in Devon, the news of Major Nicholls’ death has reached Albert. Convinced that Joey will no longer be safe outside of his custody, Albert escapes from the farm and runs away to join the army and bring his beloved horse home safely.

www.Mirvish.com

Carnival: From Emancipation to Celebration

Explore the origins of Caribbean Carnival, from emancipation to celebration, highlighted by the costumes, photographs and renderings of Brian MacFarlane. Legendary in Trinidad and Tobago and respected worldwide, he is a six-time winner of Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival, where his dazzling creations stun the eye and spark the imagination. This exhibition is produced in collaboration with Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto.

www.rom.on.ca