Archives for February 2021

Mx: a mixed review from me

publicity photo for Mx at The Cultch

Lili Robinson wrote and stars in Mx. (Photo by Christache Ross)

I’m a white guy reviewing a show about mixed-race identity, specifically the reclamation of Black identity. The lack of diversity in criticism is a serious problem and I’ve been trying to find ways to address it, but I lack resources. I’ve recently had a conversation with a colleague who’s better at accessing money than I am. I hope something comes of that.

For now, I’m going to review Mx because The Cultch asked me to and because I hope that something I say might be helpful. Fair warning: I’m going to approach this more as a technician than as a member of Mx‘s target audience.

Within that context, there are all sorts of cool — and, for me, moving — things about this remount of Mx. I first saw it when it was presented at the Fringe in 2019. It won the Cultchivating the Fringe Award that year, a prize that offers further development and a remount.

Mx has come back stronger. [Read more…]

Fifty Shades of Vinyl: you can do anything to me if you make me laugh

Screen grab from Fifty Shades of Vinyl.

In Fifty Shades of Vinyl, Nico Dicecco displays his skills as both a storyteller and mimic.

The fun started when I was trying to book a ticket for this online show using my phone: voice-to-text translated Fifty Shades of Vinyl as Fifty Shades of Anal. That was just the beginning of the evening.

In Fifty Shades of Vinyl, writers Kyle Carpenter and Nico Dicecco affectionately parody Stuart McLean’s classic CBC radio program The Vinyl Café. (McLean died in 2017.)

Fifty Shades of Vinyl is the midnight version of The Vinyl Cafe: it gets sexual. You should know, though, that it never gets explicit or vulgar. And it’s not dehumanizing. Dale and Marnie, the Fifty Shades versions of McLean’s characters Dave and Morley, love one another more and more as their sex life gets kinkier. [Read more…]

Rishi and d Douen: hang in (if you can)

company image for Rishi and d DouenI’m glad I stuck around for the last two episodes of the three-part audio series Rishi & d Douen; they’re so much better than Episode 1.

The story is about a nine-year-old named Rishi, who uses they/them pronouns according to Carousel’s press material. Like their Uncle Papaboisee Mamou, who’s a little crazy, Rishi can have conversations with plants and animals — in English. [Read more…]

Unexpecting (the audio play, from 2021): we should expect more

Arts Club's poster for UnexpectingBronwyn Carradine is a recent alumnus of the Arts Club’s Emerging Playwrights’ Unit. That means she’s veryfreshly baked, but she’s already demonstrating considerable control of craft in her new audio play Unexpecting.

Carradine’s story is about lesbian couple Annie and Jo. They fervently want to adopt a baby but their careers as a writer and painter/gallery owner hit the skids just as they become finalists in a selection process that will be decided by Sawyer, the biological mom-to-be. [Read more…]

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