There is so much student theatre that goes on every year at the University of Toronto that it can be overwhelming to try and keep up with it all. This winter semester alone will feature three different musicals, the work of T.S. Eliot, a play by Shakespeare, and the annual Hart House Drama Festival. We’ve compiled a run down of all the upcoming shows, so you’ll know what to expect and what not to miss.
U of T currently has five separate drama societies on the St. George campus, in addition to the University of Toronto Mississauga Drama Club. The Victoria College Drama Society starts the semester off with their production of The House of Bernarda Alba, written by Spanish playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. The play details the lives of women in the villages of Andalusia in southern Spain; matriarch Bernarda Alba lives with her five daughters who struggle against their own predetermined fates and against each other. The play boasts an all-female cast, a first for this year’s line-up of shows. Director Catriona Spaven-Donn explained that she was drawn to the play because of its embodiment of the Spanish language, culture, and history. “The boundaries between the artifice of the stage and reality blur as each actress embodies her character and as we feel the Andalusian heat, fear Bernarda’s wrath, and mourn the tragic end of the play,” explains Spaven-Donn. The play will run January 16 to January 18, at the Isabel Bader Theatre.
The Trinity College Drama Society is putting up two shows this winter: T.S Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, January 30 to February 1, and Stephen Sondhiem’s Into the Woods, March 19 to March 21. Murder in the Cathedral tells the tale of the historic murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beckett, with the actors dialogue reflecting Eliot’s poetic style. “The play itself is a fascinating exploration of martyrdom, and through it questions of calling and sacrifice, which touch all our lives,” explains director Thomas Slabon. The play will be performed in the Trinity College Chapel, where it has been staged twice already, once in 1959 and again in 1990, and will feature a live choir.
Into the Woods is a musical depicting the lives of a wide range of storybook characters, from “Little Red Riding Hood” to “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Written by Stephen Sondhiem and directed by Peter Perri, the musical tells the story of before and after the characters’ “happily ever after,” serving as a dark reminder that such things rarely exist, even in fairy tales. The show will run from March 19 to March 21 in the George Ignatieff Theatre.
University College’s theatre group, the UC Follies, are rounding out their season with two musicals: Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity and Belle Gunness: the Black Widow of LaPorte, a musical written by former U of T student Peter Grant Mackechnie. Sweet Charity tells the story of a down-on-her-luck taxi dancer in 1950s New York. Director Victoria McEwan described the show saying: “The show, although dated, touches upon identity crisis, fear of the future, and lousy jobs and relationships: all things we as weary twentysomethings deal with on a daily basis.” The show will run for two weekends, January 31 to Feburary 7 in the Hart House Theatre.
Belle Gunness: The Black Widow of LaPorte is a new musical, based on the real-life serial killer of the same name. Living in the mid-west United States in the 1900’s Gunness killed 20 victims, among them her own spouses and children. The musical will follow her exploits in the town of La Porte, Indiana. Composer Peter Grant Mackechnie is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and cites Jason Robert Brown, Stephen Sondheim, and Leonard Bernstein as musical influences. The show will run for two weekends, March 14–22, in the Al Greene Theatre.
St. Michael’s College is generally known for its annual fall musical, but this year the newly founded St. Genesis Drama Society will be presenting Antony and Cleopatra, at a date still to be determined.
Finally, the annual Hart House Drama Festival will be taking place this February 12 to February 15 at Hart House Theatre. It will feature student-written one act plays from all of the different dramatic societies on campus. That is to say, there is some theatre going on for almost everyone, be it the musical enthusiast, English student, or lover of student-written work.
More information can be found on the U of T Drama Coalition’s Facebook page.
