Golden theatre
Late summer’s theatre offerings range from the potentially ridiculous to the possibly sublime. In the former category there’s the puppet version of The Golden Girls, called Thank You For Being A Friend (July 29 to September 24 at the Al Green, goldengirlstickets.com). And in the latter category there’s Father Comes Home From The Wars, Suzan-Lori Parks’s epic three-part play about race and politics, set during the Civil War (now in previews, runs August 4 to 27 at Young Centre for the Arts, soulpepper.ca).
In between is SummerWorks, a multidisciplinary performance festival that boasts some intriguing shows this year, such as Njo Kong Kie’s Mr. Shi And His Lover, inspired by the real-life story of a Chinese opera singer and his French diplomat lover who believed him to be a woman. It’s the fest’s first-ever Chinese-language production and will be performed with English surtitles. August 4 to 14 at various venues. summerworks.ca.
Second to none
Throughout August, the newly rejigged Second City mainstage cast – one of the most diverse in recent memory – will be fine-tuning their as-yet-unnamed revue under the direction of alum Carly Heffernan, who recently won a Toronto Theatre Critics Award for her improvised work in One Night Only. The show begins previews August 9 and opens August 30 for a limited run. 416-343-0011.
BuskerFest breakthrough
And there’s no better way to enjoy al fresco performance than at BuskerFest, which takes over its new venue – Woodbine Park in the Beach – Labour Day weekend. The more than 45 world-class acts include Japan’s acrobatic ACE-K, Israel’s funny circus parody Cirque No Problem and Toronto’s own aerialists the Silver Starlets. September 2 to 5. torontobuskerfest.com.
Get more stage listings here.
