I’m here to jog your memory about what was going on in the Toronto theatre scene in 2015. But the problem with giving you a standard Top Five or Ten list is simply that I didn’t see everything. Far from it, actually. My status as a theatre critic doesn’t really amount to much; I certainly don’t make a living out of it. So I tend to be selective about what media nights I attend and review — depending on my level of interest or curiosity and on my available time. Sure, I also go to plays and shows on my own for the pure enjoyment of it, but professional live theatre ain’t for cheapskates, so I’m limited there too.
What I can do is give you a rundown of what I saw this year that made me remember why I keep on supporting this ancient art form we call theatre. Here is a handful of shows this year that made me laugh, or gasp, or even feel a tear or three welling up. And as a happy little bonus, I’ll toss in a couple of great shows I saw in London’s West End back in May. (I mean England, not Ontario.)
Here we go:
Potted Potter
(Panasonic Theatre; directed by Richard Hurst; starring James Percy, Benjamin Stratton)
This one’s from last December, but ran until mid-January, so I’m counting it. The world-touring Daniel Clarkson/Jefferson Turner show (condensing all seven Harry Potter books into 70 minutes) was comic gold for all ages, despite a revolving cast. And how else can you take part in a real-life Quidditch match?
*****
Blithe Spirit
(Princess of Wales Theatre; directed by Michael Blakemore; starring Angela Lansbury, Charles Edwards)
How many 89-year-olds can score the kind of laughs that the legendary Lansbury did as the eccentric medium Madame Arcati? But this near-perfect revival of the classic Noel Coward farce had other fine performances as well, including Jemima Rooper’s and Charlotte Parry’s as competing wives of the same man, one back from the dead.
*****
The Daisy Theatre
(Factory Theatre; performed and directed by Ronnie Burkett)
Burkett has been in the R-rated marionette game for decades, but The Daisy Theatre (returning to Factory after a hit 2014 run) marked the first time he’d put on a largely improvised show, and it paid off. An evening with some of the most obnoxious, pitiful and hilarious puppets you’d ever met and more.
*****
Odysseo
(The Port Lands; directed by Wayne Fowkes)
Another returning triumph, Cavalia’s Odysseo brought the magic of horse choreography and acrobatics together into an overwhelming spectacle that made you feel as if you were travelling through time and space, from medieval Japan to Easter Island to a modern summer beach. Multiple art forms blended into perfection.
*****
Creditors
(Coal Mine Theatre; directed by Rae Ellen Bodie; starring Hardee T. Lineham, Noah Reid)
August Strindberg’s talky 1889 drama could have been dull or stiff in other hands, but Bodie’s strong direction and Lineham’s powerful turn as a manipulative jealous lover both zapped real energy into the play, making it feel contemporary and alive. Intense, claustrophobic and sometimes very funny.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Cannibal! The Musical
(Panasonic Theatre; directed by Christopher Bond; starring Liam Tobin, Elicia MacKenzie)
This outrageous stage adaptation of the cult Trey Parker movie wasn’t for all tastes, but if you were braced for it, it was a feast of a different kind… about a feast of a different kind. A game cast certainly helped, especially Sound of Music star MacKenzie and notable Second City alumni like Marty Adams.
*****
The Woolgatherer
(Annex Theatre; directed by Yehuda Fisher; starring Kayla Whelan, Jonathan Shatzky)
The only Fringe show I saw this year, but it was a good one. This fresh, quick-paced new staging of William Mastrosimone’s first play charmed sellout audiences with likable actors and wit to spare, with the story of a truck driver seeking a one-night stand, or possibly more, with an eccentric hemophiliac.
*****
King Lear
(Theatre Passe Muraille; directed by Rod Carley; starring David Fox, Maureen Cassidy)
Interesting mainly for a great, original performance by local acting legend Fox, who gave Shakespeare’s tragic old king a decidedly folksy, senile interpretation that seemed all the more human and real the more you thought about it. Cassidy’s Goneril and Charlie Tomlinson’s Gloucester were also standouts.
And here are a couple of quick notes from across the ocean:
Sunny Afternoon
(Harold Pinter Theatre, London, U.K.; directed by Edward Hall; starring John Dagleish, George Maguire)
When jukebox musicals are good, they’re irresistible fun, and this fast-moving story of the Kinks’ rise and struggles is packed with great songs and a sweeping sense of the changing times of the 1960s. No mystery why the show won four Olivier Awards earlier this year, although you can’t help suspecting that historical accuracy has been sacrificed for other priorities.
*****
Gypsy
(Savoy Theatre, London, U.K.; directed by Jonathan Kent; starring Imelda Staunton, Lara Pulver)
Staunton makes the role of Rose — the pushy, fame-seeking mother of Gypsy Rose Lee — all her own with a phenomenal, unforgettable performance in this West End revival of the Broadway classic. This is the kind of world-class musical theatre that you rarely get to see outside of London or New York, and I urge you to see it if you find yourself in the former city.
