Jaw dropping. That’s the word that springs to mind at what happens on the stage of Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre when the horses come out in War Horse. It’s a story of how horses – and one horse in particular  - were used in the battlefields of World War I At first we a see an awkward young foal - Joey, but he quickly transforms before our eyes in to a full grown horse. It’s a huge coup de theatre, which drew gasps from the audience, but it’s followed by one coup after another - horses ploughing, horses galloping across the stage, horses in battle, peaking perhaps with the illusion that full grown Joey leaps right off stage and in to the audience at the end of Act One.

This is truly spectacular stagecraft,  but not of the typical Broadway show variety.  This all-Canadian version comes to Toronto from Britain’s National Theatre and New York, replete with six Tony Awards, including Best Play, so it’s a quality ride all the way. What we see is not so much razzle-dazzle as a director stretching the limits of what can be done on stage within the context of approachable and engaging drama. It’s impossible not to be dazzled.

This  history of a horse who is sold to the army and shipped to the  battlefields and carnage of World War I is strongly plotted. Arthur, Joey's young owner, enlists to find him, and he does, of course in the end (it’s no secret that all leads to this) but the journey is grim for much of its running time. So family fare this is not, at least unless the youngsters can handle scenes of death, animal cruelty and extremely tense moments. But there is a heartwarming finish which will bring tears even to the most hardened eyes and ultimately this is a joyous ride, with humanity triumphing over the evils of war. But be warned - it will move you to tears, so be prepared for an emotional journey.

I haven’t mentioned how all this magic is pulled off.  For those not familiar with the show, the horses – and there are six full size animals on stage at one point, although the attention is focussed on just one, are played by life-sized puppets, courtesy of South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company.  Joey is manipulated by three actors throughout, underneath him and at his side, who soon fade in to the background, so lifelike are Joey’s movements, mannerisms and – yes – acting ability.  For Joey, is required to act throughout and it’s a clever and cleverly executed performance indeed.  In fact it’s hard to avoid suggesting he steals the show.

Not that the human cast isn’t impressive, but honestly, all pales compared to what the horses do here.  Production values are superb too – every scene is a joy to look at.  There are set pieces here where symphonic sound and lighting and superhuman feats of puppetry create illusions that yes, make the audience gasp. It is an incredibly visual show.

It’s also an absolute must see for those who can afford the Princess of Wales’ prices (look for special offers.) Gallop over and check things out, because theatre like this comes to town very rarely indeed.

The astonishing War Horse plays at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto until June 30.  For tickets and information go here. 

 

Putting on a two-act play with just a couple of actors on stage is always a bit of a challenge. To be successful, the script has to be compelling and the actors skilled. Luckily for Toronto audiences, the new production of Jeff Baron’s much-produced 1996 play Visiting Mr Green, that opened last night, is a winner.

How could it not be with acting legend Theodore Bikel in the title role? He’s now 87-years-old and made his film debut in 1951 in the African Queen. Born in Austria and classically trained at Britain’s RADA, he’s been a multiple award-winning star of American stage, screen and television for almost 60 years. He’s ably supported by up-and-coming local actor Aidan deSalaiz, already a veteran of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and a graduate of Stratford’s Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training. And how refreshing it is to be able to enjoy a play where a gay character is played by an openly gay actor.

Yes, Visiting Mr Green is a gay-themed play. It’s also a Jewish one, produced here by Toronto’s Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company. The plot is simple. Ross Gardiner, a secular Jew, works on Wall Street where to succeed in his chosen career and climb the corporate ladder - not to mention maintain the love and respect of his casually homophobic father -  he must hide his sexuality. Or so he thinks. His world begins to change however, when, driving too fast in his car, he almost kills an elderly man as he’s crossing the street. Ross is charged with reckless driving and sentenced to do community service in the form of visiting the victim, the lonely and recently widowed Mr Green. At first, neither man wants anything to do with the other but they put up with it since it’s court-ordered.

These men come from two totally different worlds, despite living in cosmopolitan New York. The older man’s life is focused on family and his traditional, deeply-held Jewish values. The younger guy, meantime, is a worldly man-about-town struggling with the heterosexism of his dad and of his chosen profession along with his own internalized homophobia, a struggle immediately recognizable to those of us who’ve been in the same position. Seemingly these guys have nothing in common apart from their Jewish heritage, but, even there, there are differences as one is observant and the other not. Yet, through the course of the play, they come to realize how much they do in fact share and have in common (and no, Mr Green doesn’t turn out to be gay). Their recognition of this at the end of the play touched me deeply.

This is a serious play but also a very funny one. And its theme and Yiddish-based humour make it a very Jewish one too. It’s also a play that’ll resonate with a gay audience. Bikel is perfect as the elderly Jewish guy that we all know, either in real life or through the movies and television while deSalaiz’s Ross is the embodiment of the young, self-confident gay man, despite struggling with being out at work.

Toronto is having a strong theatre season and Visiting Mr Green has a lot of competition for the attention of theatregoers. But this one deserves your entertainment dollar. Go see it! 

Visiting Mr Green plays now through February 18, 2012at Jane Mallett Theatre, St Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front Street East, Toronto 

For tickets, visit the box office, call 416 366 7723 (toll-free 1 800 708 6754)or book online at www.stlc.com

 Photo credit: Racheal McCaig

In the Land of Blood and Honey - Another Apocalyptic Tale for Our Times

This is an excellent, relentless tale of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 1990's. Angelina Jolie has done a masterful (or is that mistressful) job of weaving the personal stories of her character against the backdrop of yet another senseless, internecine genocide. The people are three dimensional and complex, as is the explanation of the poltical and cultural histories that led to this war. The film has a strong "Schindler's List" feeling except that the villains are drawn with much more detail and sensibility. The critics should have been kinder to this film than they were. The acting, writing, directing and sets are terrific. I definitely recommend this film highly.

Yours for serious though provoking film making, Dame Velveeta Peron (DVP)

Haywire - Love Girl Power

I love to watch girls get away with murder. This is a great little action flick. Great cast with Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas and a very believable newcomer in the role of the killing machine girl. Just great fun. Sit back and enjoy.

Yours in mayhem, DVP

A Dangerous Method - Misnomer based on this Film

True confession : I go to all of Cronenberg's films and don't like his directing. This film is, however, fairly good. Unlike some of his earlier outings, he tells the story directly and simply, without (please excuse the pun) hysteria.

Keira Knightley does a creditable job as the young woman who goes to Jung for help and becomes his star psychoanalytical experiment. I love Viggo Mortenson being anybody and he is a good actor, which is a bonus. I enjoyed his turn as Freud. Michael Fassbender, who is starting to feel overexposed to me, is fine as Jung.

I would like to have understood better the specific reason for the break between Freud and Jung, but there was at least a sense that it had to do with Freud's determination that sex is at the root of all emotional abnormalities and Jung's desire to explore other possibilities.

Overall, this film did peak my interest to do more research about the roots of psychoanalysis and the theories of these two men. If this field interests you, you will enjoy this dip into that arena.

Yours in support of belief that crazy and sex are okay, DVP.,

Handel's Hercules

I have never been in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning before Saturday night. This alone is worth getting a ticket for Hercules or anything else that is performed there. The venue is spectacular. Fortunately, Hercules was also a wonderful piece of Baroque choral music. The singing was of very high calibre and the ballet dancers did a lovely job. A most enjoyable, pleasant and relaxing evening. Definitely worth a look and a listen.

Yours in mixing it up, DVP

The Iron Lady- Maggie would have loved the portrayal

Meryl Streep is Maggie Thatcher in the biopic. Her performance is chillingly accurate. I confess that, although I didn't agree with Thatcher's policies, I always admired her courage. Working with that gaggle of stuffed male shirts must have been intolerable, yet she did it for eleven and a half gruelling years. I wish the film had lived up to Streep's performance. Thatcher had a big life and it was probably unwise to try to make reference to all of it in two hours. For those of us around during Maggie's "reign" we could fill in many of the gaps when there was just a brief reference to things she had done, eg the death of Bobby Sands and other IRA members in jail, the Falklands, the crisis when she cut budgets. Still, there was much missed and what was there was not well enough described. Too bad. I'd still go for Meryl Streep's performance alone. Read up in advance to catch the references.

Yours in admiration of strong women, DVP.

Pariah - Sensitive, Thought-Provoking, Novel Coming of Age Story

Just when I thought there couldn't be a new take on the coming of age theme, along comes Pariah. This is the story of middle class Black-African America and how it deals with homosexuality, and in this case lesbian issues. It is refreshing to meet black characters who are not ghettoized but in the mainstream of American culture - or are they? They seem to have only black friends and colleagues. Their daughters' friends are also black. Sadly, this slice of American culture and race is no more tolerant than white societyis of homosexuality. The older of the two daughters is a lesbian, forced to be closeted except with her lesbian girlfriends because of this stigma. Everyone seems to know her sexual preference, even her parents who, nonetheless remain in deep denial. The dialogue is realistic and the acting terrific. The direction is flawless. This film deserves to be seen by a wide audience and I hope it is, but my bet is that those who already know the lesson it teaches will be its audience. You are no doubt among them, but go anyhow, not only because it is a great film but also to improve the possibiltiy for films with controversial, thought-provoking themes to continue to be made.

Yours in diversity, DVP

The Golden Dragon

I wanted to like the latest theatrical offering at the Tarragon Theatre, called the Golden Dragon, but ultimately I just couldn't. It made me feel like I wanted to go home and shower. The characters were either unsavoury and unsympathetic or totally broken and vulnerable. There was not a ray of hope in the theme, or the story which is about the Asian immigrant experience in urban Canada, as far as I could tell. The only redeeming feature of the production for me was the acting of a young man named David Yee, who provided the only point of entry to the characters that gave me a feeling of sympathy and concern. Sadly, his acting is wasted in a boring play.

Yours in thespianism, DVP

This week, Ronnie Burkett, Canada’s master puppeteer, is bringing his latest creation, Penny Plain, to Toronto theatregoers after wowing audiences in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.

Burkett has been captivated by puppetry since the age of seven, when he opened the World Book Encyclopedia to the entry on puppets. He began touring his puppet shows around his native Alberta at the age of 14 and has been on the road ever since. Now recognized as one of Canada’s foremost theatre artists, Burkett has been credited with creating some of the world’s most elaborate and provocative puppetry.

Penny Plain is the 12th production from Burkett’s Theatre of Marionettes. Penny Plain is blind, but she hears plenty about the state of the world and the fate of mankind. And so she decides to sit in her overstuffed chair, nevermore to venture outside, waiting for civilization’s inevitable end. When her seeing-eye dog Geoffrey decides to leave her to live as a man, the outside chaos invades her sanctuary as her end of the world vigil is interrupted by survivalists, a serial killer, a cross-dressing banker, talking dogs and mysterious strangers seeking sanctuary.

Part gothic thriller, part apocalyptic drawing room comedy, Penny Plain shows the funny and chilling consequences as mother earth cleans house and reclaims her ground.

Prior to the Toronto opening, I sat down with Burkett to talk about his new show after he gave PositiveLite.com the opportunity to record a brief scene from it. You can see the scene, interspersed with my interview, in the video posted at the end of this article.

Watch for my review of the show later this week. But don’t wait to reserve your seats; this is likely to be one of the Toronto theatre season’s hot tickets.

Penny Plain plays now through February 26, 2012 at Factory Theatre’s Mainspace, 125 Bathurst Street at Adelaide Street, Toronto, Ontario.

For tickets, visit or call the box office at 416 504 9971 or purchase online at www.factorytheatre.ca

Thanks to Guy McLoughlin for filming and editing this video for PositiveLite.com.

Photo credits: Ronnie Burkett/Theatre of Marionettes. Photo by Trudie Lee.

Living with Henry : The Normal Heart- The Sequel

Mission: Impossible - To Stay Awake During the Bore

I was so bored with this film that I am bored writing the review. Lame story. One decent special effect . And a partridge in a pear tree (or the Scientology equivalent). Hohoho - happy money making, Tom.My wish for you in the New Year is that you have a silent birth - of twins.

Yours in " continuing to fleece a gullible public"

******

The Girl with the Golden Tattoo ( Reader's Digest Version)

Dear Readers,

I have already broke one of my New Year's promises by seeing this movie. Glad I got that pressure out of the way early. It actually isn't bad and if you forget everything you ever knew about the books or the first version, you'll be fine.

The acting is competent and Rooney Mara is excellent. In the typical Hollywood way, things are carefully spelled out for you in case you are having trouble following and, of course, there are product placements galore. I didn't need the music to tell me when things were scary but the film makers left nothing to chance in that department either. Aside from these minor quibbles, a quite good film.

Yours in settling,

******

Green Day's American Idiot- Lives Up to Its Title

I actually liked this show a lot in many ways. I like Green Days' music and it was sung with style, verve and panache. The voices were just fine. I could have done without the song "set ups" as I call them - a bit too Hair meets Green Day for my taste.

I also found it to be very much an American production. I know it is an american group but the red, white and blue was a bit too evident for my taste. Tickets were to expensive in my view for what I got. If you're a fan with money, check it out.

My Week With Marilyn - Delightful Surprise

I have always found the Marilyn mystique an interesting phenomenon. I certainly enjoyed watching her act. I was afraid to see this film because I couldn't quite picture anyone, even the talented and look alike Michelle Williams, playing this role. I went after she got nominated for awards and the buzz was too much to ignore.

The film was charming, well acted, and interesting due to the basis in reality of the story. Michelle Williams came as close to being Marilyn as anyone could and Kenneth Brannaugh was wonderful as Sir Laurence Olivier. This is a lovely Holiday gift all wrapped up in great costume and set decoration. Enjoy.

Yours in sweet treats for the Holidays, we can diet later.

Every now and then, my mind wanders back to a terribly dusty experience of having seen a circus in a small town when I was too young to understand what was going on. The lasting memory: elephants are giant and very dusty. Circus has changed, and for the better, I have to say. I'm not a wild-eyed animal rights activist by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't find punishing animals into performing for humans all that entertaining, especially when the alternative is something as delightful as "Rain" by the Cirque Éloize.

This show has been around the world, playing hundreds of cities in dozens of countries and has made its way back to Montréal and to the Monument national, a theatre space that is also home to the National Theatre School and the Atelier lyrique of the Opéra de Montréal. If you haven't been to see a circus lately, you will be surprised that it is happening in a theatre. If you have, you will recognize that a theatre is the ideal place for this cabaret-type show, telling a story while showcasing truly magnificent feats of strength, flexibility and precision.

This show really had it all, and after so many performances it is incredibly polished. But even after so many performances, the obvious delight of the performers in doing what they do still shines through brilliantly. They really do set an atmosphere of cabaret, with music and even costumes that made my mind wander back to a time before I was born…that kind of twenties or thirties cabaret performance somewhere in continental Europe.

The other dominant theme that emerges is slapstick: they don't miss a chance to "accidentally" drop someone or hit someone in the face with a juggling club. One of the pinnacle moments of comedy is the contortionist reluctantly being stretched and folded into a suitcase, despite all of her efforts to resist.

There are moments of sheer beauty, too. The four performers on the silks start out on the ground, with lighting effects and the manipulation of the fabric creating a beautiful scene. They go on to demonstrate all of the grace and drama that this discipline has to offer, assuming amazing positions one moment, dropping dramatically to within centimetres of the floor the next.

For me, the very best part of the show came at the end. Through some form of theatrical wizardry, there was water on the stage and then it started to rain. The performers were like children in the rain, playing soccer (complete with fake dramatic injury as one player dropped to the floor in feigned agony), and plenty of sliding through the pooling water. That, as I understand it, was the goal of the creator of this show: bring forth our experience of rain as children, not as something from which to hide under awning or umbrella, but something to delight in and to play in with abandon. What a lovely way to wrap up a show that immersed us all in the delight of circus-style play throughout.

"Rain" is playing at the Monument national until 30 December. Can't make it to Montréal in this period? Watch your television schedule, as the night we saw it was the night that Radio-Canada (CBC French) was filming it for a future broadcast. If you're lucky, you will even hear the rather distinct laugh of one of my friends, peppered throughout the broadcast.