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 Jeremy Mimnagh.
REVIEW: The Born-Again Crow is an ardent ode to unproductivity
Director Jessica Carmichael’s Toronto premiere production trucks along with the passionate force of an early-2000s emo rock hit, imbuing this systemic critique with rousing, playful life.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Kendra Epik.
REVIEW: House + Body’s Measure for Measure weds the beautiful with the troubling
House + Body provides few answers about how to resist (or further, dismantle) a corrupt government. But layered portrayals of the play’s central characters convey the emotional stakes of a system that allows for egregious abuses of power.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Red Snow Collective’s Carried by the River is still finding its flow
Playing in the Tarragon Theatre Extraspace, Carried by the River delivers visually striking images and impressive choreography but struggles to find emotional depth and cohesion.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Outside the March’s Performance Review is claustrophobic for all the right reasons
It’s up close and personal, with lots of eye contact and sometimes only inches of distance between playwright-performer Rosamund Small and the audience.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Against a bloody backdrop, Trident Moon pays homage to the power of resilience
Playing at Crow’s Theatre and set during the 1947 partition of India, the intense fictionalized drama offers a graceful depiction of several women’s high-stakes struggle to resist.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Olya Glotka.
REVIEW: At Factory Theatre, Kelly Clipperton’s new solo show transforms memory lane into a catwalk
Supported by Naomi Campbell’s glamorously grounded direction, which glides over the keys of sharply contrasting emotional scales, Clipperton paints a quippy, unapologetic, nostalgically referential portrait.
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