Review: Reflector
iPhoto caption: Reflector. Photo by Michael Cooper
Reflector
Theatre Gargantua
Written by Michael Spence. Conceived and directed by Jacquie P.A. Thomas. At Theatre Passe Muraille. Runs until November 18.
Four people are affected by a picture of an eight-year-old girl in a war-torn country in Theatre Gargantua’s latest show, Reflector. There’s the hardened photographer (Michael Spence), a woman profoundly affected by the image (Louisa Zhu), a woman burdened with a perfect memory (Michelle Polak), and the therapist who deals with their traumas (Abraham Asto).
The multi-disciplinary company, celebrating their twenty-fifth season, leans heavily on physical theatre. The four actors—all playing various roles, each with distinction—run, tumble, roll, jump, and are caught in mid-air by their castmates. The activity suggests the frenzy and fear of any war-torn country.
Jacquie P.A. Thomas conceived of and directed this muscular production and, as usual for the company, Spence wrote it. Integrating rap, hip-hop, prose, and poetry, the dialogue is breathtaking. When Spence, as the photographer, is telling us how he set up the shot of the little girl, there is a quiet urgency in his voice. In that moment, the audience was silent, leaning in to listen. No photograph accompanies the description, and none is needed.
Laird Macdonald’s projections of places in conflict flash on screens behind the action, amplified by Thomas Ryder Payne’s percussive soundscape of bombs and gunfire. At the end of the show, we are left with the real-life, heart-wrenching photographs that have stunned us over the years: a naked girl running from a napalm strike, a Vietnamese man with a gun to his head just before he is shot, three-year-old Alan Kurdi lying dead on a beach.
A single photograph has power. It can stop us in our tracks. This is what Reflector explores, and it does so beautifully.
For tickets or more information, click here.
Lynn Slotkin
Lynn is the former theatre critic for Intermission, and currently writes reviews on her blog The Slotkin Letter. She also does theatre reviews, interviews, and commentary for CIUT Friday Morning (89.5 FM). She was a theatre reviewer for CBC's Here and Now for ten years. On average, she sees 280 shows a year.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
Soulpepper and Outside the March effectively drown Uncle Walt’s highly manicured public image in acetone, leaving the audience with a grotesque portrait that feels at once comically exaggerated and painfully accurate.
iPhoto caption: Video still courtesy of the Grand Theatre.
REVIEW: In One Step At A Time, Andrew Prashad unpacks disability through tap dance
Prashad’s play is undeniably impactful and advocates for the spina bifida community with great passion and joy.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Kate Dalton.
REVIEW: Women of the Fur Trade makes a heartthrob of Louis Riel
There’s a war going on out there somewhere, and Louis Riel isn’t here.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Roya DelSol.
This play is such a delight to watch, and I would definitely go again. I live for this quality of performance, and I’m looking forward to how this play will continue to inspire Black Canadian theatre to come.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Rose Napoli writes the world of Mad Madge with a glittery, fun-filled gel pen
Overall, Mad Madge is a hoot, a compelling story rendered accessible and charming by Napoli’s text and Donaldson’s realization of it.
REVIEW: Eldritch Theatre’s The House at Poe Corner delights and disturbs
Michael O’Brien and Eric Woolfe’s mashup of Edgar Allan Poe and Winnie the Pooh is Poe-sitively droll.
iPhoto caption: Marcel Stewart, Dan Mousseau, Christef Desir, Alex Bulmer, Shakura Dickson in The Story. Photo by Neil Silcox
It was frigid the night I saw the production, and when you are freezing and can’t feel your fingers or toes, time-wasting shenanigans wear thin.
iPhoto caption: Lena Maripuu, Graham Conway, and Peter Pan ensemble. Photo by Nicholas Porteous
Joy to the world—the most inventive, lively, whimsical production of Peter Pan has arrived for the holidays!
iPhoto caption: Robyn Stevan in The Mess. Photo by Dahlia Katz
Co-creators Mikaela Davies and Polly Phokeev have devised a short, complex, layered story of how the mess a person creates can affect those around them.
iPhoto caption: Company in the Grand Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol. Photo by Claus Andersen
Reviews: A Christmas Carol (x2)
Reviews of two productions of A Christmas Carol—Ross Petty Productions and the Grand Theatre, in London, Ont.—that couldn’t be more different.
iPhoto caption: David Schurmann and Carly Street in Heisenberg. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann
Of the three productions I’ve seen of Heisenberg—on Broadway in New York, the West End in London, and here in Toronto—this one is the best.
Comments