It may be too early to call, but Lupe: Undone might just be the funniest thing at this year's Fringe. This completely insane one-woman show starring Melissa D'Agostino as a charismatic South American woman waiting for her lover, David Mirvish, in the alley behind Honest Ed's is one of the freshest, weirdest, and utterly charming pieces of theatre we've seen in a while. Lupe enters the scene scaling down a fire escape in a... [continue]

Sky Gilbert's Ladylike, a new one-act play written specifically for Canada's favourite trans woman, Nina Arsenault, comes to us by way of a well-received run in Hamilton. The play—in which Arsenault's character mostly addresses the audience (and occasionally her boyfriend, played by Wes Berger) on subjects like her family history, her many cosmetic surgery procedures, and ideas about gender construction—probably seemed pretty audacious and daring for Hamilton, but it's interesting to see how a... [continue]

Dear Jimmy Hogg, I am the guy with red hair who was sitting in the front row of your show, A Brief History of Petty Crime, at its Toronto Fringe debut last night. I am sure that you remember me. You started talking to me a bit during your show, at first when I laughed at a joke you made about pesto. Your chatty, digressive performance style allows for such interaction and abandonment of... [continue]

For patriotic theatre-going homosexuals (and really, is there any other kind?), there has been little downtime as of late. Pride, Canada Day, and now the mighty Toronto Fringe Festival have all bled into each other, separated only by a single Monday in which to nurse RuPaul-induced hangovers. Now in its twentieth season, Toronto's biggest theatre festival takes over the city as of 5:30 p.m. this evening. (And it's for straights, too!) Fringing blind is... [continue]

Last night, the 29th annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards were handed out at the Winter Garden Theatre over the course of about two hours and forty five minutes. Sometimes known as the "Canadian Tonys," our theatre capital's award show is decidedly more low-key (if, somehow, not any shorter) than its American counterpart. A few nomination upsets aside (host Sharron Matthews made a pointed comment about the lack of a single nomination for popular and... [continue]

There are those of us whose parents started bringing us to the Dream in High Park when we were six, who have probably seen A Midsummer Night's Dream a half dozen times, studied it in school on a regular basis since grade five, and can probably recite Helena's "O, spite! O, Hell!" monologue from memory. We will not have any trouble understanding the RSC's production of Dream currently playing at Luminato. But for those... [continue]

Soulpepper continues its year-round season with Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize–winning drama 'Night, Mother. Written after the suicide of one of Norman's close friends, this quiet, personal drama tells the story of a mother and daughter's strained relationship in a single scene, at the beginning of which the daughter informs the mother that she will be killing herself that night. The play not only consists of the events that take place between this revelation and... [continue]

The Eco Show is a new Necessary Angel co-pro currently playing at Buddies. It's also the latest work written and directed by Daniel Brooks, so it would seem to go without saying that it's one of the most visually striking plays of the season, with masterful use of sound, lighting and A/V. It tells the story of a mysterious, insular family presided over by the sanctimonious and wheelchair-bound patriarch Hamm (yes, ha ha). Put-upon... [continue]

Well, this is it: the last day of this year's Inside Out festival, and consequently, the last day of our extensive coverage. It's been a gay, gay blast, but some of us are about ready for a nap. If you haven't caught any screenings so far, this is your last chance for a whole year, and there are still a few cool things to catch. You'll be happy to know that seminal gay Aussie... [continue]

Performance Spring continues over at Factory with The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, a play written by celebrated Canadian novelist Yann Martel (pictured). Roccamatios is Martel's sole dramatic work, and the script is actually adapted from one of his 1993 short stories of the same name. Eric Goulem is the performer in the one man show, in which he tells the audience the story of his friend Paul who, when they were both in... [continue]

Inside Out film goers who had their hearts set on seeing With Gilbert and George, a documentary about the lives of the European "living sculpture" artists are in for something of a disappointment as the screening has been cancelled. In its place, the festival will be showing Shelter for a second time. If you can stand a complete change of mood, the film really is charming and worth a look. Another screening of interest... [continue]

It's closing weekend for Inside Out, but there are still a bunch of interesting films left to see. One of the most exciting screenings today is The Witnesses (pictured), the new film from acclaimed French writer-director André Téchiné, who also made the queer-themed The Wild Reeds. Set in and around Paris in 1984, the film follows a small and rather incestuous group of friends who all become affected by the onset of the AIDS... [continue]

It's a pretty quiet day at Inside Out, with only six screenings. Fans of European movies/men might take interest in Italy's Saturn in Opposition, and the artfag must-see of the day is definitely the doc Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff + Robert Mapplethorpe. If you're feeling in the mood for something South American, Argentina's La León (pictured) is the clear choice. Set in a small and remote rural community in... [continue]

Inside Out rages on. One of the biggest-name movies of the festival screens tonight: Paul Schrader's The Walker. The film stars Woody Harrelson as a "Walker," a well-to-do gay man who "walks" wealthy women around to society events their husbands are too busy for (interestingly enough, this "profession" also came up in Sunday's Savage Grace). These women include the always-fabulous Lily Tomlin and Lauren Bacall. But things get complicated when Harrelson's character gets drawn... [continue]

The long weekend may be over, but Inside Out is still going strong. Tonight the festival will be presenting its Centrepiece Gala: a screening of Australian gay surfer movie Newcastle. It seems worth noting that this is the second gay surfer movie of the festival, following the much-buzzed Shelter, which played last Friday. But despite obvious superficial similarities, the two films are actually quite different. Newcastle is about three brothers, for all of whom... [continue]

It's Victoria Day Monday, and what better way to celebrate that old queen's birthday than by watching a bunch of gay movies at Inside Out? Things kick off at noon with a gay daddy doc double-bill at the ROM. We didn't get a chance to check out Fatherhood Dreams, a Canadian film about four gay men who are all fathers in different ways, but we did see Daddy's Love, a film about a Norwegian... [continue]

The Inside Out festival continues today with ten different screenings. One of the more high-profile films in the festival is Savage Grace, the new film from Tom Kalin starring Julianne Moore. Kalin is probably best known for is 1992 film Swoon, based on the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case. So it should come as no surprise that Savage Grace is based on the real life murder of Barbara Daly Baekeland by her son... [continue]

It's Day 3 at the excellently-programmed Inside Out festival. One of the more interesting films to catch this afternoon is It's Still Elementary: The Movie and the Movement (pictured) over at the National Film Board. It's actually a documentary about another documentary, 1996's It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School, a groundbreaking film that showed elementary school teachers discussing homosexuality with children. But don't worry if you haven't seen its predecessor: It's Still... [continue]

Officially, this is Day Two of the 18th annual Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival, but it's the first fully programmed day, with 8 different screenings happening. And things are starting off with a bang! There are so many cool screenings going on today, you're actually spoiled for choice. The big ticket is undoubtedly Shelter (pictured), which has already generated a significant amount of buzz on the prissy, reactionary gay... [continue]

Gay movies get a bad rap. Even some of the most avowed homosexualists we know cringe at the thought of curling up in front of anything other than Brokeback Mountain, or possibly The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. Well, the mouthful that is the Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival is doing everything it can to change that. The festival, which opens its 18th season tonight, showcases films... [continue]