Plum Viewing
Welcome to the latest edition of Plum Viewing, my weekly roundup of arts and culture to view online. Happy viewing!
Ok, we are starting with another spotlight on the east coast and one of my favourite playwrights (such east coast love!!), Hannah Moscovitch. A Halifax native, Hannah is the acclaimed playwright of Bunny, Old Stock: A Refugee Story, What A Young Wife Ought to Know, and so many more. True story, I actively stalked Hannah, like an old school detective hunting for her email, which I found. I sent her an embarrassing fangirl email and SHE responded! Oh, it was a happy day. Anyways, it seems that Audible also shares my love for Hannah because she will be launching a new sketch comedy series with them with the working title “Witch.” You can check out the full lineup here.
Staying with the audible theme, The Public Theatre is presenting a new audio play called SHIPWRECK. Premiering today at 12:00 pm ET, the play is about America’s present-day divisions, seen through the eyes of the very recent past. It is written by the super talented Anne Washburn and directed by the wonderful Saheem Ali. I am looking forward to hearing the thought provoking themes of this play as I meander about on my daily walks. The play is available at publictheater.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
We can thank the lovely creative team at Canadian Stage for bringing us Pina Bausch’s 1975 seminal work, The Rite of Spring. It was due for a world tour this year but well…Covid. So, instead, we can enjoy it as a gorgeous 40-minute film performed by a specially assembled company of 38 dancers from 14 African countries. It is an international co-production between London’s Sadler’s Wells, the Pina Bausch Foundation in Germany, and École des Sables in Senegal. The film is followed by an interview with Germaine Acogny, artistic director of École des Sables, and Jorge Puerta Armenta, former member of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. What a treat! It runs from Oct 21–28 and you can purchase a ticket here.
First staged in 1998, UK playwright Sarah Kane’s troubling play Crave, explores love and hope in a world of violence and madness. Kane is known for her focus on delicate themes including love, pain, and sexual desire and her plays stay with you long after they end. Chichester Festival theatre in the UK staged a socially distanced revival of Crave, which is also being live-streamed each night from October 31 to November 7. And for fans of The Crown (and really who isn’t!!) Princess Anne herself is in the cast — well, the real life version, Erin Doherty.
Although it’s fair to say, no one reads Plum Viewing for the politics (we all need a break), let’s face it, we are all obsessed with the upcoming US election, and for good reason. Well for those of us in this camp, there are two journalists whose words we hang on and well, lucky for us, there are speaking together at one of my fav venues, the 92Y. New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman and political correspondent Alex Burn will be talking politics this Sunday, Oct 18 at 7 pm ET. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here.
And, in case you missed it, Maggie, who is often called the Trump whisper, spoke to the Munk Dialogues the day after the disastrous presidential debate. It’s well worth a watch and you can find it here.
And, lastly did you mark your calendars for this Saturday, Oct 17?! If you haven’t, well fear not, that is why I am here. Royal Conservatory of Music is hosting The Resounding Concert, a benefit concert to well, end all benefit concerts. Here’s the line-up: Meryl Streep, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Lang Lang, James Ehnes, k.d. lang, Alex Cuba, Chilly Gonzales and so many more. I mean. Wow!! And, it is streaming for free. Reserve your tickets here. Your Netflix binge can wait. Trust me on this!
Enjoy!!
And, an ask: While we’re enjoying these wonderful performances, let’s remember that for the arts organizations producing this incredible content, this is their livelihood; not a hobby. If we can, now is our time to continue to support our incredible arts community!
And, if you’d like to receive Plum Viewing weekly, send me a note at maggiefairs@gmail.com and I will add you to my mailing list.