The Canadian Film Fest (Can Film Fest) continues tonight with some genre films. READ MORE
At Canadian Film Fest 2015: Late Night Double Feature
The Canadian Film Fest (Can Film Fest) continues tonight with some genre films. READ MORE
With two days to go, I have narrowed down my list of Top Picks at this year’s Toronto ComiCon. The three-day event takes over the Metro Convention Centre from March 20-22. In this short but carefully curated list, I give you some suggestions of places to be at, panels and Q&A sessions, as well as a film screening at the Bloor Cinema. Lots of goodies here! READ MORE
La Semaine de la Francophonie, Toronto’s premiere annual Francophone festival of arts and culture, celebrates its 15th anniversary with eight days of music, theatre, visual art, film, and food.
From March 20 to 28, la Semaine de la Francophonie will showcase the best Canadian Francophonie has to offer. As one of the biggest events of its kind in Toronto, la Semaine… will offer activities in French at various venues across the city.
Here are some highlights of events taking place across the city. Lots to sample, so take note! READ MORE
Part of the fun of attending various events in the city, such as comic conventions and book fairs, is that I get to meet some really interesting people. At a book fair last year, I walked by the Horror Writers Association booth and had a short chat with Canadian author Brian F.H. Clement. READ MORE
Forgiveness
Molly Peacock
Forgiveness is not an abstraction for
it needs a body to feel its relief.
Knees, shoulders, spine are required to adore
the lightness of a burden removed. Grief, READ MORE
Sky Gilbert‘s The Cabaret Company presents his newest work, My Dinner with Casey Donovan, opening this week Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. READ MORE
Have you ever wanted to write a masque? Have you ever wondered about the personal sacrifice that goes into creating a masque masterpiece? Do you even know what a masque is? To find out the answer to all of these questions, join Toronto Masque Theatre for their final salon of the season, and learn what really goes on behind the scenes.
Fresh from the succes of last season’s Arlecchino Allegro, which I thoroughly enjoyed, Artistic Director Nicholas Dénoument and Prima Ballerina Mina Kalishnikova, from the esteemed Gorgonetrevich Corps de Ballet National, will draw on their vast experience to create a masque right before our eyes. The whole thing from scratch: the music, the dance, the scenery, the costumes, the lighting, maybe some poetry. The whole thing. Seriously!
To lend assistance will be, the maestro, Larry Beckwith along with soprano Michele DeBoer, and lutenist, Lucas Harris. The evening will include light snacks, tea, coffee, and a cash bar.
If you’ve yet to attend of Toronto Masque‘s salons, I cannot recommend them enough. For an evening of quality music, humour, and much more, I encourage you to come out next Monday night!
The Spotlight on Israeli Culture Festival continues this month with a poignant play written by one of Israel’s most beloved authors, Savyon Liebrecht. For one day only, on Sunday, March 8, winner of Israel’s Best Play Award (2006), Apples From The Dessert, will be performed as a dramatic reading at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.
Liebrecht’s Apples From The Dessert is a romantic comedy and drama about Orthodox Sephardic Jewish parents from Jerusalem whose only daughter, Rivka, runs away from home to live on a kibbutz with a secular Ashkenazi named Dooby, after she finds out her father’s plan to marry her off in an arranged marriage.
The dramatic reading will feature Aris Athanasopoulos (Seven Years), Sarah Dodd (Dora Award-winner, Marion Bridge), David Eisner (Driving Miss Daisy), Theresa Tova (Bella: The Colour of Love), Vanessa Smyth (Bullet for Adolf), and Avery Saltzman (Therefore Choose Life).
David Eisner is not Artistic Director of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company. He is also the director for this dramatic reading, and will also be playing the role of Rivka’s father Reuven. Eisner took time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about the play and its siginificance.
HM: The play is based on a very popular short-story by Savyon Liebrecht. Has anything changed in its content for this particular production?
DS: I believe in the short story the father is hardly mentioned. But along with a very successful run in Israel, this play had a full production at Theatre J in Washington DC a few years ago and a film version is just coming out now.
HM: The story confronts religion against secularism / modernity head on; while at the same time, it is about love and reconciliation. As director, how do you approach these themes?
DS: Well first of all you cast it well, and we have some wonderful actors including Sheila McCarthy, Aris Athanasopoulos, Sarah Dodd, Vanessa Smyth and Avery Saltzman. Ultimately this story is about family and love, and that is something we can all relate to.
HM: I understand, you’ll also play the role of Reuven – the Orthodox patriarch. How do you prepare for this character?
DS: I look at the back round of the character. In this case a very hard and difficult childhood as an orphan who was not shown much love. I look at the scenes and the conflict within them, and the overall arc of the character. And then I look for things you have inside that serve the character and things you need to add.
HM: In your opinion, what makes this story poignant within Israeli culture and beyond?
DS: In Israel there has almost always been tension between the very religious and the secular, and add to that the added factor of generational differences. I think Israeli audiences were moved by a play that explores and reflects that story, with an ending that has some light and hope and potential middle ground. The tension between tradition and modernity is really universal. This play had a production in the Philippines and they understood and related to the narrative in every way. I think as humans we always will struggle with the past present and future and how we choose to live our lives.
I agree with Eisner. I think as humans, we are constantly looking for ways to remember the past while moving forward. And many of us are certainly looking for ways to live our lives in a more inclusive manner.
