Soulpepper Theatre
iPhoto caption: Dan Mousseau and bahia watson in 'Summer and Smoke.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Tennessee Williams deep cut Summer and Smoke warms up Crow’s Theatre
I wondered if further following the directive to push upward instead of outward, balancing the corporeal dark with a little more spiritual lightness, might have made this ambitious and heartfelt production spark just a little bit hotter.
iPhoto caption: Nicholas Eddie and Tantoo Cardinal in 'Witch.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Soulpepper’s Witch is thematically alluring but dramatically thin
Jen Silverman’s play aspires to communicate something substantive about the human condition — touching on loneliness, ostracization, misogyny, ageism, yearning, and ego — yet it never quite settles on a cohesive or definitive thesis. Lancaster’s production commits to heady visuals and clever idiosyncrasies to fill the gap, with mixed results.
iPhoto caption: Natasha Mumba and Kondwani Elliott Zulu in 'Copperbelt.' Photos by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Before heading to Soulpepper, Copperbelt strikes gold at the NAC
Natasha Mumba's debut play successfully navigates generations of personal and international histories and expectations, including an unflinching examination, through nice-guy Peter, of Canada’s own role in resource extraction in developing countries.
iPhoto caption: Mazin Elsadig in 'The Comeuppance.' Photo by Dahlia Katz. Set design by Shannon Lea Doyle, costume design by Ming Wong, lighting design by Jason Hand.
Macabre and drama-filled yet surprisingly gentle, The Comeuppance will probably be most compelling to the around-40 crowd who share its specific touchstones and millennial angst from a high-school experience bookended by Columbine and 9/11.