When the federal government nixed tobacco sponsorship in 2003, it was almost curtains for Harbourfront Centre’s cancer-stick-addicted World Stage international theatre festival. But then new artistic director Tina Rasmussen came on board and figured out a way to cut costs: Turn World Stage into a solo performance extravaganza.
World Stage: Flying Solo opened last night with Rosebud, a play about Orson Welles, and A Mobile Thriller, a play that takes place in an actual car with you in the back seat (whole run sold-out already, alas)... Tonight, the festival has its first presentation of the Edinburgh Fringe sensation Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure, a bizarre show about Gorman’s round-the-world trip searching for Googlewhacks (a geeky pursuit that has changed radically since Google replaced dictionary.com with answers.com as its linguistic authority).
Some of the other 18 performers slated to hit the solo stage over the next few weeks are:
- Karen Hines, she of CBC’s The Newsroom, in the theatrical omnibus Pochsy Unplugged (pictured);
- Laurie Anderson, NASA’s first artist-in-residence, in The End of the Moon;
- Fringemaster Charlie Ross (pictured), who returns to Toronto with his One Man Lord of the Rings and One Man Star Wars nerdsterpieces;
- Marie Brassard, Robert Lepage’s partner in crime, with The Peepshow Project.
Go on down and make sure these one-person shows are accompanied by more than the sound of one hand clapping. Check out the schedule of events and Scene Changes’ full run-down.