THEATRE NEWS:
CanStage announces 25th anniversary season

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
03 FEB 2012

There appears to be a lot of international and national glitter in Canadian Stage's 25th Anniversary season. But only time will tell whether that season, announced Thursday by controversial artistic director Matthew Jocelyn, will finally translate into silver at the box office or simply play-out as a season of fool's gold.

Jocelyn will launch his 2012/13 mainstage season at the Bluma Appel in October with Vancouver's Electric Company's acclaimed Tear The Curtain, written by Jonathon Young and Kevin Kerr and directed by Kim Collier, whose Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge so impressed Toronto audiences in 2010.

It will be followed by a limited engagement of a touring production of Political Mother, choreographed, directed and composed by Israeli Hofesh Shechter — a multi-media dance piece that has already made big waves in London and will be stopping in Toronto as part of an international tour.

Hard on the heels of Political Mother, Jocelyn re-unites Canadian stage icons Michael Ball and Fiona Reid, in Alistair Beaton's translation of Max Frisch's The Arsonists, under the direction of Morris Panych, before Jocelyn himself takes over to direct a new production of Canadian Melissa James Gibson's This — casting to be announced.

In a bow to CanStage's first production — David Mamet's Glengarry, Glen Ross — Jocelyn has programmed Mamet's Race, which takes over the Bluma in April of 2012, starring acclaimed ex-pat Canadian television star Jason Priestly. A return engagement of Compagnie Marie Chouinard, this time out, performing The Golden Mean (Live) rounds out the mainstage season.

On the more intimate Berkeley Street stage, Jocelyn presents three works by some of Canada's dynamic young companies, beginning with Company Theatre's production of Andrew Bovell's Speaking In Tongues, directed by Philip Riccio. It will be followed by the Old Trout Puppet Workshop's latest production, titled Ignorance, and conclude with Crow's Theatre's production of Someone Else, a new work from Kristen Thomson, directed by Chris Abraham, starring the playwright and Tom Rooney.

The Berkeley Street space will also play host, in February of 2013, to Canadian Stage's annual Spotlight Festival, this time focusing on the nation of Japan, and featuring an array of performances from contemporary Japanese artists, like Hiroaki Umeda (Haptic and Holistic Strata), Oriza Hirata (Sayonara and I, Worker), Carlotta Ikeda (Medea) and Toshiki Okada (Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and the Farewell Speech).

A production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Richard Rose, will launch it all as CanStage's annual Dream In High Park. Jocelyn also took the opportunity to introduce Su Hutchinson who will take over the role of Canadian Stage's managing director this spring, replacing David Abel. For further information on the upcoming season, visit www.canadianstage.com.