The season’s best movies, music, theatre, books, TV & more
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Cara Ricketts in Antigone
She was on our top-10 list last year for her performances as an imperious fairy queen in Shakespeare and a series of contemporary black women in works by Joseph Jomo Pierre. But can Ricketts successfully blend the classical and the contemporary in Antigone: Insurgency? Adam Seelig offers a post-9/11 take on the Sophocles classic, placing Antigone between the state (Creon) and the people (the chorus). The One Little Goat production runs November 9 to 25 at the Walmer Centre. www.onelittlegoat.org.
Playwright Hannah Moscovitch
With remounts of The Russian Play and Essay coming up in 2008, Moscovitch is on a roll. In her newest script, East Of Berlin, a German man worries that Papa’s wartime crimes will affect his relationship with a Jewish woman. This poster girl for young playwrights is concerned with more than clever dialogue her scripts delve into both small- and large scale politics. Previews from October 16 and runs to November 25 at the Tarragon Extra Space. www.tarragontheatre.com.
The final scene of The Drawer Boy
We defy you not to be moved by the cathartic last moments in Michael Healey‘s play, a celebration of Canadian stage history and the power of theatre to heal old wounds. An instant hit when it premiered at Theatre Passe Muraille in 1999, it’s become one of the most frequently staged works in North America. TPM launches its 40th anniversary season with a revival featuring Randy Hughson, John Jarvis and Frank Cox O’Connell. October 23 to November 18 at Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace. www.passemuraille.on.ca.
A threesome with Hari Krishnan, Margie Gillis and Allen Kaeja
Sounds kinky, doesn’t it? Well, temperatures will rise as dancer/choreographer Krishnan, better known for his Bharatanatyam-inspired shows, dances a new solo by the living legend Gillis and a new ensemble work co-choreographed by contact improv king Kaeja. The title, Recipes For Curry, whets the appetite, too. Harbourfront Centre’s Enwave Theatre. October 18 to 20. 416-973-4000.
Jon Dore?s attitude
The erstwhile roving reporter for Canadian Idol can deliver a deadpan line like no one else. And if you don?t get his jokes ? many of them based on misdirection ? he?ll likely blame you with his unflinching stare. His new Comedy Network series, The Jon Dore Show, debuts October 17 (the hilarious first episode, about his testicles, stretches the limits of network TV), but look for Dore to play comedy clubs like Yuk Yuk?s Downtown and the Rivoli?s Monday night ALTdotCOMedy Lounge. Check listings in October.
Linda Griffiths’s history lesson
After tackling Maggie, Pierre and the Duchess of Windsor, playwright Griffiths returns to historical drama in Age Of Arousal. The play won a Betty (Calgary’s equivalent of a Dora) last year, so let’s see if T.O. audiences react with the same enthusiasm to this piece about an ex-suffragette feminist and her female lover, whose secretarial school is invaded by a trio of spinster sisters and the feminist’s cad of a cousin. The Nightwood/Factory co-pro runs November 17 to December 16 at the Factory Mainspace. www.nightwoodtheatre.net.
The audience at Dirty Dancing
It’s demolished box office records and been extended till infinity (just kidding, latest word is that it’s running here till June 2008). Who cares what the show – a musical version of the tacky 1980s flick starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze – is like? You just know the eager post-baby-boom crowd will be humming Time Of My Life as they leave the Royal Alex come October 31. 416-872-1212.
Family Dancing
How adorable is this? Choreographer Laurence Lemieux has created a dance piece called Interiors about family for herself, her partner, Bill Coleman, and their children, Jimmy and Juliette. Talk about dance dynasties. October 25 to 27 at Harbourfront’s Enwave Theatre. 416-973-4000.
The Nunavut song, by the Nefarious Black Roses
The sweet-looking duo with the silver voices deliver savagely funny comedy that plays against those pretty harmonies. Fag hags, messy breakups, a so wrong but hilarious bit about Nunavut – their material is smart and original. Catch them as part of the 45-act Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, November 12 to 18 at the Diesel Playhouse and Second City. www.torontosketchfest.com.
Hysteria on Halloween
The October 31 roster for Hysteria, Buddies’ multidisciplinary festival of female creators, couldn’t be more eclectic. Hosted by comedy duo the Nefarious Black Roses (see above), the evening features five-minute guerrilla performances by, among others, the Arabesque Dance Company, performance artist Joanna Householder, comic Teresa Pavlinek, poet/songster Evalyn Parry and Montreal breakdance artist K8 Alsterlund. Maybe they’ll all be in drag to celebrate Halloween. Buddies in Bad Times. www.artsexy.ca.
