FanExpo Canada 2013: Toronto Steampunk Society Intro

August 22-25 Metro Convention Centre

If you go to FanExpo you will find everyone there very likeable and willing to talk to you whether you are a patron or, like me, have a media badge. After attending the Steampunk 101 panel with Jody Rodier and John Morgan (aka Graydon Carnaghan) I decided to stop by the Toronto Steampunk Society booth to have a look and get some information that I could share with you. Have a listen to my quick chat with Todd Clark...

For more information on the Toronto Steampunk Society visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/torontosteampunksociety

More TSS Steampunk pictures at: https://www.facebook.com/tmtmradio

Summerworks Today!

I hope you've been following my SummerWorks tweets (@tmtmshow) and facebook posts (www.facebook.com/tmtmradio) as I haven't had the time or energy to also write reviews. I have been rating the plays, however, just to give you an indication of their merit. If you've missed my social media coverage, then please LIKE my page and follow me on twitter

5 STAR PLAYS

ENTITLEMENT
Final Performance: 
Sunday, August 18th, 4:00pm, Theatre Passe Muraille
16 Ryerson Avenue (north of Queen, east of Bathurst)

Flawless casting, directing and writing keeps this funny satire right on track with its examination of the millenials and their feelings of entitlement. Bring an extra $15 cash so you can buy a copy and have it signed by playwright, Sugith Varughese

MURDERERS AT CHRISTMASTIME
Hopefully you've already seen the last performance of this play today, otherwise pray that it gets picked up as the company's production of the award-winning TERMINUS (Summerworks 12) was by Mirvish. It's a brilliant, blue-black dark comedy that doesn't flinch from three  frightening, frenetic and fixated depictions of love/lust at Christmastime. Belly laughs, empathetic sadness and chills make this a performance lingers long after the "merry" ending.


4 STAR PLAYS

X
You still have time to see Sunny Drake in this solo performance that uses humour to expose issues that may be the underlying causes and obstacles to addiction (alcholism, in this case). Sunny and his team use puppetry and animation to maximum effect, maintaining interest in a show that deals with such a heavy topic.

Final Performance:
TONIGHT!, 7:00 pm Scotiabank Studio Theatre, 6 Noble Street

THE ART OF BUILDING A BUNKER
You'll have to hurry if you want to see this one, and trust me you do! Hillarious look at political correctness in today's team building, self-examinating world.

Final Performance:
TODAY! 4:30 pm, Scotiabank Studio Theatre, 6 Noble Street

SUMMERWORKS 2013
Today and Tomorrow (final shows)
www.summerworks.cahttp://summerworks.ca/2013/
$15 (bring cash) for at the door purchases

Enough Rope Not Worthy Of Summerworks

I consider myself a fair reviewer, so I received a lot of questions about my scathing comment about Enough Rope on the TMTM Facebook page/@tmtmshow twitter profile. This performance lists itself as an exploration of "artistic isolation" with the setting being a "musty tent.” Before my friend and I entered the Studio space at the Lower Ossington Theatre, someone should have warned us that the tent we were to be housed in for the duration was a stinky (no metaphor, after all) burlap cocoon with loose straw on the floor and limited seating. There were no allergy alerts posted, nor were we informed that some audience members would have to sit on crocus bags scattered on the floor. So, with first impressions not being good, I went to my happy place so that I wouldn't prejudge the performance based on my stuffy nose and the tight, crowded seating. I soothed myself with the sight of the slightly mad-looking ballerina with the smeared make-up and the ill-fitting tutu (I love a psycho ballerina!). Unfortunately, what unfolded in the four segments presented, was a mish-mash of absurd rather than absurdist commentary on life as an artist. Because the theme was underdeveloped, the piece lacked the necessary bite and humour needed to draw the audience into the nightmarish world the four actors were trying to create. It’s a shame that the strong talents of the actors, and their passionate commitment to their roles are undermined by their own collaborative effort on the script as well as the direction. Perhaps they were too close to their material to see that, although, they communicating amongst each other, they were never connecting with any of us. I couldn't help but think that they were hoisted by their own petard. The ending arrived with a baffling silence that signified nothing, and evoked nothing. nbsp;

SUMMERWORKS
August 8-18
www.summerworks.ca