irst up is Anais' list:
I'm Not Here - I love theatre that incorporates songs and poems into the fabric of the narrative. I'm Not Here does just that. Doireann Coady delves deep into the darkness, examining death, love and grief with lyricism and expletives.
MDSLX - I'm down for anything that's been called "an intellectual dance party." I'm also down for queer, genre-bending performance that blurs the lines between personal truth and fiction. I'm stoked to get to simultaneously experience gender theory and dance music, celebration and revolt.
And next we heard from Richard:
For my PuSh picks it’s probably not a surprise that I’ve put Pi’s Canadian premiere of The Events by David Greig on my list. Since we’re currently in rehearsal, and since the actors don’t meet their community choirs (a different one every night) until the night of their performance, I can truthfully say I’m very excited to see it!
BiRDMAN: LiVE - One of the reasons Birdman, the film by Alejandro González Iñárritu, made waves the year it was released was because of its use of a highly unusual sound track that primarily employed a singe instrument for its expression. By itself, that’s an audacious choice, but when that single instrument is a drum the boldness of the vision is made even more vivid. The drummer is Antonio Sánchez, one of the best drummers on the planet. You can see him perform the soundtrack live with the film screening behind him at the Vogue theatre. *Shayna's looking forward to this one too*
Dublin Oldschool - Dublin Oldschool is not for everyone. The Guardian’s Michael Billington felt it was a little like hanging out behind Niagara Falls. In his experience the verbal barrage coming from the stage was relentless to the point of numbing. On the other hand The Independent UK says: “The odyssey over very precise locations in Dublin; the mock-heroic pitch and the purposefully limited time-span naturally – and outrageously – puts one in mind of Ulysses. The lost weekend trope is reminiscent of fellow Irish dramatists, Conor McPherson and Mark O'Rowe (who wrote Terminus which Pi produced in 2013). I think that all three of those authors – Joyce had the gifts to be a killer rapper, if not quite the temperament – would get a kick out Dublin Oldschool.”
I’m more than willing to engage with a 70-minute language blitz if it’s going to provide that extraordinary level of punchy verbal pyrotechnics. Dublin Oldschool is presented with The Cultch.
Torrey Pines - Over at The Fox Cabaret, Club PuSh is offering its usual range of diverse and entertaining work. I recommend a film-music hybrid called Torrey Pines screened with a live score by queer pop punk band Your Heart Breaks. Members include Lori Goldston, Zach Burba, Jacob Jaffe and the filmmaker Clyde Petersen. The evening also features live Foley sound effects by Susie Kozawa.
In a movie partially inspired by Tape Loops, the 2015 ambient solo record from former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, who recorded Torrey Pines’ soundtrack, Petersen tells the story of his young life. As described on the movie’s web site: “Torrey Pines is a stop-motion animated feature film by director Clyde Petersen. Based on a true story, the film is a queer punk coming-of-age tale, taking place in Southern California in the early 1990's. Raised by a schizophrenic single mother, Petersen's life story unfolds in a series of baffling and hallucinated events. With a mother fueled by hallucinations of political conspiracy and family dysfunction, twelve-year-old Petersen is taken on a cross-country adventure that will forever alter the family as they know it.” I can’t wait!
