REVIEW: Tease uses burlesque to unpack body positivity
iPhoto caption: Photo courtesy of Crow's Theatre.
It looks like Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 has been dethroned as Crow’s Theatre’s sexiest recent show.
In its place comes Tease, produced by Big City Kitties in association with Crow’s, now playing in the latter’s studio theatre. Tease evades the limitations imposed by genre by easily hopping between styles – is it a burlesque show? Sketch comedy? Dance? Solo monologue? In truth, it’s all of the above, and for the most part, performers Lindsay Mullan, Mei Miyazawa, and Glenys Marshall land Tease with sexy finesse.
The 90-minute romp through third-wave feminism (and an impressive collection of pasties) opens with a raucous game of Never Have I Ever, in which Mullan, Miyazawa, and Marshall attempt to find the most innocent person in the audience – that person, we’re told, will soon be “corrupted” by the sketches featured in Tease. Those vignettes span a wide gamut of subject matter and trope: there’s a goofy, Western-inspired dance, in which the warring cowboys eventually lay down their guns to hook up with one another, and a cute-yet-haunting tap number performed beautifully by Miyazawa. Marshall performs a (very good!) song on guitar about murdering the billionaires of the world. The trio performs clad in Janelle Joy Hince’s lovely costumes in all their spangly, feathery glory.
Tease comes to a head, however, when Mullan appears onstage alone, completely naked. Gone are the tassels and feathers of Tease‘s previous sketches, along with the jangly music and silly scenarios. No, this is Mullan playing Mullan, reflecting on the personal significance of appearing naked on a stage, in a body Mullan says she’s not always treated with respect. Her ruminations on body positivity as an individual are touching and heartfelt (more on this later), along with the jokes she cracks using her body as a prop – one particular gag about Tease‘s neighbour in the Guloien Theatre received big laughs on opening night.
Tease is a lot of fun – this blazing trio of women is funny, sharp, and well-choreographed (all three are cited as the work’s choreographers, along with Gabriel Gonçalves and Dana Thody). But towards the end of Tease, Mullan herself (also the show’s credited director) says the casting “could have been more punk-rock,” and it’s hard not to agree – there’s nothing particularly revolutionary about able-bodied, athletic women dancing seductively in the name of self-love. The bones of Tease are strong, and there’s a more inclusive version of the show that could come to light with further workshopping. In its current iteration, though, I found it difficult to engage with a performance about societal body positivity when none of the bodies onstage looked remotely like mine.
I want to love Tease – it’s an unfussy good time with lots going on in its choreography and trimmings. (And Marshall’s Bo Burnham-esque song about billionaires has been stuck in my head since Thursday!). But I’m curious about how the show might continue to grow and evolve. The conversation Tease starts is metal as hell – it’ll be all the more so when more body types are able to participate.
Tease runs at Crow’s Theatre until March 24. Tickets are available here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission‘s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission‘s partnership model here.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's senior editor and an award-winning arts journalist with bylines including the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CBC Arts, CTV News Toronto, and Maclean's. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: The Lehman Trilogy production still by Trudie Lee.
REVIEW: Canadian theatre has a thing for The Lehman Trilogy. Does it work at Theatre Calgary?
The real drivers of Theatre Calgary’s production are its three performers. And boy, do they ever drive. Each performance pulses with unmatched and unrelenting vivacity, made all the more impressive by the stamina required from the ambitious three-and-a-half-hour runtime.
iPhoto caption: Production stills from Faust and Nabucco courtesy of the Canadian Opera Company.
REVIEW: Excellent singing elevates lacklustre productions in Faust and Nabucco
Both operas in the Canadian Opera Company’s current fall repertoire, Faust and Nabucco, include stellar performances from world-class singers in productions featuring directorial and design choices that abandon historical accuracy and realistic mise-en-scène to varying degrees of success.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Ian Jackson
REVIEW: In Ronnie Burkett’s darkly intelligent Wonderful Joe, gentrification hits like a meteor
When Siminovitch-winning puppet virtuoso Ronnie Burkett chose the focus of his latest play, was he thinking of TO Live’s $421-million plan to redevelop its St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts?
iPhoto caption: 13 Plays About ADHD All At The Same Time graphic courtesy of Circlesnake Productions.
REVIEW: 13 Plays About ADHD All At The Same Time is true to its title
While the play’s structure may occasionally leave you feeling as scattered as its protagonists, its heart, humour, and raw honesty will keep your thoughts churning well into the night.
iPhoto caption: Goblin:Macbeth production still by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: Goblin:Macbeth might just leave you gobsmacked
While most of the entertainment comes from the goblins’ antics whenever the Shakespearean text is paused or subverted for comic effect, the secret sauce to this whole endeavour is that it really is an honest-to-goodness staging of that text, designed to showcase the performers’ near-virtuosic mastery of the material.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: The Thanksgiving Play wriggles in performative wokeness
In 2024, is there a way to produce an engaging, culturally sensitive play about the first American Thanksgiving for elementary schoolers? The Thanksgiving Play, penned by Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse and now playing at Mirvish’s CAA Theatre, poses that question in its first five minutes, then throws the query out with the cranberry sauce in its madcap exploration of a devised theatre piece at an unnamed primary school.
UnCovered returns to Musical Stage Company with U2 and the Rolling Stones
“What you see in the audience is really the tip of a very long collaborative iceberg,” says Wong, artistic associate at Musical Stage Company and arranger, orchestrator, and music supervisor for UnCovered. “It’s a really diverse cast of voices and styles, and they’re all bringing their A-game. It’s starting to get really exciting in the room.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: The Thanksgiving Play wriggles in performative wokeness
In 2024, is there a way to produce an engaging, culturally sensitive play about the first American Thanksgiving for elementary schoolers? The Thanksgiving Play, penned by Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse and now playing at Mirvish’s CAA Theatre, poses that question in its first five minutes, then throws the query out with the cranberry sauce in its madcap exploration of a devised theatre piece at an unnamed primary school.
iPhoto caption: King James production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: King James interrogates hometown pride and fandom
LeBron James’ checkered legacy looms large over the events of King James, sensitively written by American playwright Rajiv Joseph and now playing in a stylish production at Theatre Aquarius.
iPhoto caption: Come From Away production still by Matthew Murphy.
REVIEW: Welcome home, Come From Away
On the surface, not much has changed in Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Tony Award-winning masterwork. But in the two and a half years since Come From Away’s last stint on King Street West, the show has continued to mature, and even improve — the production now playing at the Royal Alexandra Theatre is just stunning.
iPhoto caption: King James production still by Dahlia Katz.
King James brings basketball — and bromance — to Theatre Aquarius
“Sports and theatre both hold extraordinary characters in extraordinary circumstances,” says director Haysam Kadri. “That’s what my favourite type of theatre is: Characters placed in such interesting circumstances, and seeing how they navigate the world.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: 1939 finds tremendous power in the things left unspoken
Jani Lauzon’s production, now playing at Canadian Stage, paints a sharp portrait of a fictional residential school, but uses wide swathes of negative space to its advantage.
Comments