undercurrents

There’s plenty on offer this weekend from Valentines Day events, to beer, to Winterlude.

“The script explores what it’s like to be middle-aged artists who realize they’ll never achieve success. Even if you’re not an artist, it’s a relatable condition.”

“Kilpatrick peppers her intimately personal stories with humour and pathos that draws the audience into her world and the diverse personalities of her dogs.”

Si l’an dernier le festival undercurrents avait enregistré un nouveau record d’assistance, on ne s’attend pas à moins cette année ! Parmi les neuf productions qui font partie de la programmation, voici nos coups de cœur.

Macbeth Muet (speechless Macbeth), playing at the undercurrents festival, is an almost wordless abridged version of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Most of the main plot elements are there, from the three witches to the final battle scene. Some major elements are missing, but they are surprisingly few. To reveal them would be to give spoilers. Let me compliment […]

There’s a quote I’ve seen kicking around a lot recently, usually attributed to Margaret Atwood, though there’s some controversy about its exact origin and wording; it goes something like “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.” Whoever said it and however it was said, the sentiment hits […]

Listen To Me is speed dating as theatre, with the stated goal of attempting to tear people away from their phones long enough to make a genuine face to face connection with another human.  In the Arts Court Studio, a total of eight ticket holders per performance are given a name tag and assigned a […]

Moonlodge – part of the undercurrents festival of new plays – is a reworking of an Aboriginal Canadian classic by playwright Margo Kane. As part of the festival, it was workshopped at the NAC Fourth Stage on February 12 and 13. This is the NAC’s first participation in undercurrents; here’s hoping it’s not the last. […]

Miscegenation (noun): the interbreeding of people considered to be of different racial types. Sarah Waisvisz travels a murky, muddled and miss-remembered heritage in Monstrous a world premiere performance at undercurrents that blends storytelling to dance in Waisvisz search for cultural belonging. Premiering during Black History Month this work comes at an opportune moment offering insight […]

Fringe theatre by its very name explores characters and topics frequently marginalized.  Getting to Room Temperature adheres to this tradition in Arthur Milner’s one-man show recounting the struggles that accompany the decline and death of his mother Rose. Based on Milner’s experience with his mother Rose’s death the work was inspired by her pursuit of […]

The title of this play is Forstner and Fillister Present: Forstner and Fillister in: Fosterner and Fillister. If that makes you laugh, you will like this play. If the use of punctuation concerns you, you’ll probably still like this play. This is a play that it’s hard not to like. Those who have fond memories […]

Jared Davidson is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Apt613. Follow his Twitter for more. The opening night of undercurrents closed with Mouthpiece, a play from Toronto’s Quote Unquote Collective, and a play whose title only hints at the social commentary that bursts forth from this performance in new and important ways. It is […]