Results tagged “ruthmadocjones”

Each week, we take a look at what's going on in Toronto's theatre scene and tell you which shows we think are worth checking out.

Marjorie Chan's A Nanking Winter is a show about the 1937 genocide of the citizens of Nanking committed by the Japanese army. The atrocity, which claimed the lives of at least 300,000 Chinese, is an often-overlooked tragedy, and Chan's story focuses on a young woman named Irene who has written a book exposing the truth about the massacre. Chan's play is inspired by Iris Chang and her book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, which was a best seller in 1997. Chang suffered from depression and, in 2004, she took her own life. The first act of A Nanking Winter is set in the home of Irene and her Japanese husband on the eve of her Rape of Nanking-esque book's release. She is visited by her flighty sister, her publisher, Julia, and a mysterious guest that Julia brings along. The second act thrusts the action back into the past and explores the lives of two women, both named Mei, struggling to survive in the middle of the Nanking massacre.

Look at how cute the cast of The Drawer Boy is! And yes, that is the much-ballyhooed inflatable cow in the background. Have you continued to miss your chance to catch this new Canadian classic? Well, somebody must keep seeing it, because it's already been extended a couple of times and now plays until December 2. But if that somebody wasn't you, don't despair! The lovely people at Passe Muraille have decided to give back to the community, and tonight's performance of The Drawer Boy is going to be completely free for all those who attend. This is a great chance to see Michael Healey's poignant and funny rural drama on the cheap-as-free. It's a good idea to show up early, though. Tickets become available at 6 p.m. and are strictly first come, first served.

Passe Muraille has been pushing its remount of the hugely popular Michael Healey hit The Drawer Boy with considerable fanfare, including leaving giant, inflatable barnyard animals outside the theatre for a few days last week. And why not? It's the most successful play to ever come out of that theatre this side of The Drowsy Chaperone, which has definitely grown a bit too gigantic for a return trip. But The Drawer Boy, with its Farm Show-inspired plot and its allusions to Rochdale College, remains a perfect fit at Passe Muraille, even if its last major appearance in Toronto was at the considerably swankier Elgin. It could be just the hit the place needs.

This weekend, Passe Muraille kicks off its new season by remounting one of its most successful shows ever: Michael Healey's The Drawer Boy. To celebrate the seminal piece of theatre's homecoming, Passe Muraille will be displaying a two-story-high inflatable cow outside the theatre tomorrow at noon.

A pair of anorexic nuns cross a neon pink crucifix to air their laundry—so begins The Ecstatics. Sisters Marguerite and Abegail are the last standing pair of nuns from a convent bent on self-perfection through eating disorders. The premise has promise, to be sure, but an inconsistent, overlong script keeps The Ecstatics from being as brilliant as it could so easily be.

Shakespeare in the Rough's production of Antony & Cleopatra (directed by Ruth Madoc-Jones) is taking place in Withrow Park from Saturday August 5 to Labour Day, Monday, September 4. But if you can't wait for your dose of the Bard, you can catch a preview tormorrow and Friday evenings at 7pm.