This week in theatre rounds up the most noteworthy live theatre playing right now in Toronto. It includes just-opened shows as well as productions that are about to close.
Figaro's Wedding / Burroughes Building / 7:30pm / $35-$60
Against the Grain Theatre has pushed the envelope in the past with inventive adaptations of La Bohème and Turn of the Screw. Their newest piece is a contemporary treatment of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro aptly titled Figaro's Wedding. The production promises a chic ceremony complete with all the fanfare you'd expect at the nuptial event. It's directed by Joel Ivany with musical direction from Christopher Mokrzewski.
Toronto Festival of Clowns / Pia Bouman Studio/Unit 102 / Various Times / $15
Hold onto your hats, some of the nation's greatest clown talents take over the city during the Toronto Festival of Clowns. Among the shows to look out for are five, count it five, from Adam Lazarus as part of the Trip Bill series. Lazarus also stars alongside Guillermo Verdacchia in The Art Building a Bunker. Other featured performers include that good old twosome Morro and Jasp, mother and daughter team Michelle Smith and Nina Gilmour, and Keystone Theatre's silent film homage, Klondike.
Kim's Convenience / Soulpepper - Young Centre / 7:30pm/1:30pm / $22-$68
As long as audiences continue to clamour for a look at one of the most successful new Canadian plays on the scene, Soulpepper will bring back this comedic gem from Ins Choi that first wowed fringe crowds way back in the summer of 2011. The comedy, about a family forgiving the past, is set in a Regent Park Korean convenience store. Starting in July, the show will travel cross-country with stops in Calgary, Ottawa, and Vancouver.
Sister Mary's a Dyke? / Daniels Spectrum / 8:00pm/2:00pm / $15-$25
Abby is a young and innocent teenage girl harbouring a secret at Crown of Thorns Academy, the oppressive all-girls Catholic school she attends. Her quest to step into her sexuality and reconcile her true feelings with her surroundings takes her all the way to St. Peter's Square. The play is written and performed by Flerida Peña with direction from Nina Lee Aquino.
Hold Mommy's Cigarettes / Alumnae Theatre / 8:00pm/3:00pm / $25
Comedienne Shelley Marshall's one woman show Hold Mommy's Cigarettes charts her journey from steel town Hamilton to marquee stand up act. In a cross-section of some of her most memorable characters, Marshall finds the comic in the tragic and doesn't shy away from cheeky, taboo subjects. She's in Toronto at the Alumnae until June 2.
Photo from the Toronto Festival of Clowns