This year’s FemCab includes a bit of a rant.
Curated by the company’s dramaturg and literary manager, Erica Kopyto, FemCab – Nightwood Theatre’s 29th annual celebration, a few weeks late, of International Women’s Day – includes an eclectic roundup of women from the artistic, political and activist communities.
Five of them – Olivia Chow, Andrea O’Reilly, Shoshana Sperling, Anna Willats and Kristyn Wong-Tam – will take to a soapbox to hold forth on issues pressing to them and their communities.
There’ll also be performances by spoken-word artist Motion, DJ Cozmic Cat, Rosina Kazi, Evalyn Parry, Lisa Pijuan-Nomura, Suba Sankaran, taiko drumming collective Raging Asian Women and a film by Dayna McLeod.
Elvira Kurt hosts an evening that celebrates the powerful artistic and political voice of women. See listing.
Splendid Senyora
Dragana Varagic has been away from the stage far too long.
As she proves in The Vindication Of Senyora Clito Mestres, in which an extraordinary woman rediscovers her life and her craft when she returns to the stage, Varagic is mesmerizing to watch.
A blend of classical myth and contemporary reality, Catalan writer Montserrat Roig’s play, translated by Anne Szumigalski and Elisabet Ràfols, is a monologue in which Clito, the speaker, recounts her life story as she prepares to play Clytemnestra, the tragic Greek queen caught up in a series of family murders and vengeful actions.
Roig’s text parallels Clytemnestra’s story with that of Clito – unfaithful husband, lover, loss of a daughter, raising twins and facing various betrayals. She’s not the only one betrayed as a younger performer, Clito sabotaged another actor so she could step into the role of Electra, Clytemnestra’s daughter.
Poetic and tinged with melancholy, the script demonstrates how Clito pulls herself together, regaining personal strength as she prepares for Clytemnestra the actor wants to live rather than speak the character’s words, thus justifying Clytemnestra’s actions.
Though Varagic is the lone performer, calling this staging by April Productions a solo show isn’t quite accurate. She played Clito in a version of the show some 10 years ago, but here Varagic also takes on the role of director to create a different and visually striking staging.
With the help of video designer Bojo Vasic, projection designer Vojin Vasovic and production designer Snezana Pesic, we now watch two Clitos: the actor both live and on video, one echoing and sometimes mirroring the other’s movement and speech. At times one figure seems to be the other’s inner voice at others the “pair” seem to perform a close-knit duet. They even take a joint curtain call.
With her haunting eyes and expressive voice, Varagic commands our attention from the moment she strides down the aisle, parts the theatre curtains, turns to the audience and utters, “Let’s see.”
There’s one more performance of the show, this Saturday (March 31) see listing.
In Motion and more
It’s a busy week for Motion, the emcee, poet, writer and hip-hop artist who’s taking part in FemCab (see above).
Her new play, 4our women, part of Obsidian Theatre’s development series, has a workshop production Saturday (March 31).
Featuring Andrea Scott, Virgillia Ashton-Griffith, Sharon Forrester and Dienye Waboso, the play looks at a quartet of characters (a dead washer, a domestic, an inmate and a crown ward) “who walk the precarious line between death, rebirth and the living in between.”
It’s followed the week after (April 7) by a workshop of Leah-Simone Bowen’s The Hallway. Set in 1936 during a heat wave, Bowen’s script follows the tenants of a black rooming house trying to cope with life and a Russian immigrant attempting to escape his past. The cast includes Karen Robinson, Raven Dauda, Martin Julien, Natasha Adiyana Morris and Peter Bailey, with music by Andrew Penner.
Obsidian’s Philip Akin directs both shows. See listing.
stage@nowtoronto.com
