On and off

FTA, OFF.T.A., Bob’s Lounge, pirates
in Yiddish and more

LONER LOCKDOWN:
The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan

By NEIL BOYCE

Following a great start, the dizzying selection of theatre and theatre-like performances continue at both the “regular” and OFF versions of Festival TransAmériques this week.

At Monument National, new FTA experiment Microclimats predictably offered mixed results as every floor, from rehearsal space to boiler room, was crammed with actors and dancers doing their thing. Theatre Replacement’s WeeTube used the great concept of acting out comments from recent famous YouTube vids (Sneezing Baby Panda, David After Dentist, Japanese Binocular Soccer—you all know and love them), while making popcorn and cookies for the audience. A tender and contemptuous look at the landscape of gruesome modern pop culture.

Elsewhere at the Monument, Système Kangourou’s Et tu m’as dit... was a ridiculous affair comprising polar bear costumes, badly played music, ketchup-smeared girls, and audience participation. Fun, but really more of a Fringe type of gig.

Latvian company New Riga Theatre knocked out its Usine C audience with their ’60s-era flower power deconstruction, The Sound of Silence. It was impossible not to be drawn into the world created by the cast of 14 dynamic young actors. The dreamy, druggy, dialogue-free show—set in a trashed apartment and awash in downbeat Simon and Garfunkel tunes—followed the end of a more innocent time with great style and conviction.

Still ahead, Studies in Motion, from Vancouver’s Electric Company Theatre (May 28–30, D.B. Clarke Theatre) takes the obsessive work of photographer Eadweard Muybridge and spins it off into surreal territory. Later, look out for twin shows from Chilean troupe Teatro En El Blanco, Neva and Diciembre (June 3–6, Théâtre Prospero). The first is set in the Russian Revolution, the second in an imagined conflict five years from now—both begin with the interior wars that play out in the home while “the echo of violence” knocks at the door.

AT THE OFF.T.A.

At the OFF.T.A., an increasingly rich program this year awaits adventurous theatre-goers at this unaffiliated fest to the FTA (info at offta.blogspot.com).

Agota Kristof’s harrowing novel, Le grand cahier is staged by Le groupe Bec-de-Lièvre; left to fend for themselves in an unnamed country during wartime, two amoral twins endeavour to document every day a tally of their experiments and depravities. (May 29–31 at Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui.)

The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan, from Alberta’s Old Trout Puppet Workshop revisits the legendary lover as he is summoned from Hell. What might have been a simple evening at the theatre becomes instead, as they brilliantly put it, “a transcendental orgy that will change us forever. Most nights, anyway. Depends on the audience.” (To May 29 at Espace Libre.)

BEYOND THE FESTS

“Take off your pants, have a drink, and open your heart” at Bob’s Lounge from Battery Opera (Vancouver), until May 30 at La Chapelle. Connecting venue, audience and performer, David McIntosh and Aleister Murphy apply caustic humour and alcohol as they invite local artists from various disciplines to join their irreverent cabaret.

At the Segal Centre, the Canadian premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance—in Yiddish—runs from May 31 to June 16. Marking the 50th anniversary of the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre, it’s also the opening show for the first Montreal International Yiddish Theatre Festival.

Théâtrosphère presents Soleil Rose: a woman sits outside a Parisian café, surrounded by the ghosts of her past. “It’s a choreography of words,” says writer/director Paolo De Paola, “where regret and hope dance together for an hour and 20 minutes.” (To May 31 at Geordie.)