Last weekend we strolled up to Crow’s to see our third Ibsen play in the last 18 months: Rosmersholm. Like A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler, the set was stark (though I don’t know if any set will ever be as stark as Doll’s House), the dialogue brilliant, and the messages timeless. It was all the more remarkable because one of the actors was filling in at the absolute last minute — stepping in earlier that day for the primary actor who’d had a death in the family.
Category: Entertainment
Pastrami-adjacent
We spent last weekend in Stratford. We packed a lot into 48 hours.
Friday
After a long drive out of Toronto (is there any other kind?) and a brutal rainstorm, we arrived in Stratford and checked into the Bradshaw Lofts before checking out the wine bar downstairs, Brch & Wyn. We had:
- stone fruit w/ fresh mozzarella, walnuts, basil, peach romesco
- chicken nuggies w/ brch dry rub, spicy mayo, lime
- massaman flatbread w/ beer coconut curry, cashew, chili crisp, pickled chili
- some very tasty & well-curated wines: I remember there being a local orange wine, a Gewurz, a Sonoma Chard, and two local Cab Francs
We threw it all down our necks quickly; we had a play to get to — Cymbeline (link). My haiku review:
A twist on Shakespeare
Casts Cymbeline as queen; pretty
good but kinda long
By long I mean: 90 minutes into the play the lights went dark, which we figured was a shockingly abrupt end, but it turns out ’twas only the intermission and there was another 90 minutes to go. We made it, though. We all made it.
Saturday
Luckily Brch & Wyn is also an excellent coffee shop, so I grabbed us caffeine and breakfast downstairs. We watched some Netflix in the room (I’ve been forced to watch Love Island once again, so that betting may ensue), we made an unscheduled run to Wal-Mart (don’t ask), and then went out in search of lunch. After bumping into a few non-starters — NB: Stratford runs on a schedule, and the 2pm plays drive a lot of people into a noon lunch — we braved the lineup at Features, a Stratford institution. We banked on their ability to turn tables quickly, and it paid off: we had a table right away, with plenty of time to make it to our next play. I even had time to stop at The Ashborne Café for an espresso.
Our second play was the Ibsen classic Hedda Gabler (link). My haiku review:
Stellar work all ’round
“People don’t do such things!” No,
But our Hedda does
After a quick walk home and more bingeing, we were off to dinner at Lovage. It really feels like a home away from home now (to wit: earlier in the day, while walking around town, we were recognized by our favourite host Abra!) and on this occasion it didn’t disappoint. Here’s what we had:
- Lobster salad
- Marinated peppers
- glasses of Ontario orange and Portuguese white
- Fried squid w/ shishito peppers
- glasses of Chablis and Sicilian white
- Short rib special (described to us as “pastrami-adjacent”) w/ white kimchi
- a half-bottle of Tondonia Rioja
- Crème-frâiche ice cream + blueberry sorbet
- glasses of Port and Madeira
Sunday
Once again: caffeine and breakfast from Brch + Wyn woke us up. We had to check out by 11, but our brunch reso wasn’t until 12, so we killed time sitting in a park on a summer day. Just as we were leaving I saw a hawk fly full-speed into the top of a tree, followed by the screaming chatter of a squirrel(?), then the hawk falling out of the bottom of the tree and flying away. Couldn’t tell if it was a successful hunting expedition or not.
As noon approached we walked to Revival House for brunch. Just as we were about to be seated Lindsay realized I didn’t have my umbrella. It’s the best umbrella I’ve ever owned so I didn’t want to lose it. We walked back to the park, relieved to find it there, and returned to Revival. It’s a converted church (with some stunning gardens out front) that feels quite cozy inside. We had cocktails, a fried chicken sandwich (me) and eggs bennie (Lindsay), followed by an almond coffee cake and some coffees, and then were off to the Studio theatre, just kitty-corner from the restaurant, for our final play.
The Edward Albee play The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? (link) has been much celebrated since it was first performed in 2002. All four members of the cast had been in Cymbeline Friday night, and one — Rick Roberts — was someone I watched many years ago on Traders. My haiku review:
Dark, hard, weird viewing
This animal collective
Comes wholly undone
It was a good thing we’d gone back to get that umbrella, because our walk home was through pouring rain. As was our drive home, pretty much the whole way. And that wasn’t the half of it: we knew there’s been weather warnings all over southern Ontario the past few days (including a tornado that touched down in nearby Ayr) but driving home and seeing cars submerged on flooded highways really brought it home. (Also, different kind of danger, but we also saw Batman.)
So, a successful 48 hours overall. Not sure we’ll return to Stratford next year for plays (we might go just to eat at Lovage, and maybe try cocktails at Elizabeth which we missed this time) but I feel like we did it right this time.
Faded cities
We finished season 1 of the board game Pandemic: Legacy today. We began playing it 3.5 years ago, taking some very long breaks in between, but wrapping up the final month yesterday and today. We won, but it was a pyrrhic victory.
We started playing it in the middle of a…well, global pandemic. It was a little on the nose, but it entertained us for ~20 sessions at 2+ hours a pop, so even though you can never play it again (you tear up cards, put stickers on everything, etc., etc.) it feels well worth it. We might pick up another season, but for now we can play the original as often as we want.
Women Of The Fur Trade
We just got home from a day trip out to Stratford. The festival is on, and while we have a long weekend planned in September to see a couple plays, there was one playing earlier we decided we had to see.
First, though: some lunch. We ended up picking LOVAGE, which (a) had a lovely shaded back patio, (b) had the nicest staff ever, and (c) was delicious. You can see some samples on their instagram, and my mouth is watering just seeing some of those dishes again. We had oysters, steak tartare w/ carrot and parsley, trout w/ cucumber & dill, sugar snap peas w/ stracciatella, and potato paillasson w/ herbs & aioli, and a couple of glasses of wine each. Absolutely lovely spot — we’ll find a way to get ourselves back there in September.
The play we wanted to see was Women Of The Fur Trade, playing just down the street at the Studio theatre. Here’s the synopsis from the program:
Set in eighteen hundred and something-something, somewhere upon the banks of a reddish river in Treaty One Territory, where three very different women with a preference for 21st-century slang sit in a fort sharing their views on life, love and the hot nerd Louis Riel. In this lively historical satire of survival and cultural inheritance, playwright Frances Koncan shifts perspectives from the male gaze onto women’s power in the past and present through the lens of the rapidly changing world of the Canadian fur trade.
It was funny and powerful and silly and I’m really glad we saw it.
See you again in a few weeks, Stratford.
Girls & Boys
Last night we experienced what would have been a fairly typical Saturday night prior to 2020: we went to dinner and a show. Specifically, dinner at Gare de l’Est and a play called Girls & Boys at Crow’s Theatre.
First: dinner. It was a lovely, tasty time, and we ended up swapping wine stories with the general manager. I was also eyeing the brunch menu and thinking we need to get back there some weekend. Anyway, here’s what we ate:
- Starters
- baguette & beurre
- scallop crudo w/ plantain chips
- olives
- cocktails
- Mains
- crispy confit duck leg, cherry preserve, green salad, frites
- steak tartare
- bottle of Pearce Predhomme Pinot Noir
Then, the play: ooof. It was good, but it was about such a tough subject. We were wondering why it came with such an emphatic content warning, but we found out soon enough. It was one woman on a small stage for 90 minutes, and we left wondering how she could run that dialogue night after night after night. One patron actually had to get up and leave about 3/4 of the way through, which they expected — the actress stopped the dialogue briefly to let the woman know it was okay to cross in front of the stage, and explained that it happens sometimes. I don’t want to give away too much of why the content was so harrowing, but…yeah. Incredibly impressive performance, and it’ll be sitting with me for a while.
Two years
Yesterday, March 18, marked exactly two years since my last day at the office (at my previous company), and, for all intents and purposes, the start of the lockdown for Lindsay and I.
No point rehashing the last two years, but it does feel like we’re now — for better or worse, and perhaps only temporarily — tentatively re-entering the world, at least in Toronto. Last Friday we went to see a (very excellent) Jacqueline Novak comedy show; last night I met up with some old Delano colleagues, one of whom I hadn’t seen in 21 years, at Craft Beer Market, which was pretty much full. On Monday, I start working in the office again, a few days a week.
I hope we can keep things under control. I hope we can restart our social lives in some way without endangering the most vulnerable. Even I, Captain Introvert, crave interaction and dinners out and travel experiences. But not at all costs, so…fingers crossed for safe re-entry.
It was one of the moms from Bend It Like Beckham
It’s been a busy ten days. Last week I got to go to the Leafs home opener against the Canadiens. It was my first sporting event in a crowd since…I have no idea when. The Canadiens lost — they’ve only lost so far this season — and after the game I saw a drunk Leafs fan get hit by a car. So there was that.
Earlier this week Lindsay’s mom was in town. On Tuesday we had a tremendous birthday dinner at Ascari Enoteca:
- cocktails
- bread
- olive oil poached tuna w/ apple, fennel, cashew, and chili emulsion
- Wisconsin burrata w/ heirloom tomatoes, romesco, pine nuts, and focaccia crisps
- arancini w/ nduja sugo, basil, and grana padano
- glasses of La Rondinina Lambrusco
- linguine w/ octopus, nduja, tomatoes, red pepper, and caper bread crumbs
- spaghetti alla carbonara w/ house made guanciale, grana padano, pecorino, egg yolk, and black pepper
- ricotta gnocchi w/ hen of the woods mushrooms, sunchoke, chives
- bottle of 2017 Palmento Costanzo ‘Mofete’
On Wednesday we went to see Blindness, my first play, or something resembling it, since…I really have no idea when. It was a very intense sound & light experience, to the point where I was worried I might pass out or be sick. But still really interesting and good.
Fleabag
About a week ago I started binge-watching Fleabag (imdb | rotten tomatoes) again. I’d started watching it with Lindsay and then just fell off for some reason. She finished it ages ago; what spurred me to go back to it was that she bought tickets to see a recording of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s performance of the Fleabag play at the National Theatre in London last September, at the Paradise Theatre on Bloor.
First, the series: as we all know by now, it’s brilliant. All the superlatives are earned. It’s clever and moving and dark. I think season 2 might be even better than season 1, but might need another watch to confirm that.
Second, the (filmed) one-woman show: recaps a lot of the first season of the show, often verbatim. Offered a few interesting changes. Also strips it down to a woman on a stool, so no winks at the camera or other actors to help carry things. I might have found it funnier if I didn’t know 98% of the jokes in advance, but it was enjoyable to watch. Cool theatre too — we sat in comfy chairs in the balcony and had cocktails brought ’round.
There’s also a bar attached to the theatre — Bar Biltmore — and a restaurant — Osteria Rialto. We had late reservations at the latter, and passed the time at the former with cocktails (Paper Planes, Negronis), wine (Gruner Veltliner, a crazy Chardonnay) and oysters.
For dinner we had:
- gnocco fritto w/ mortadella, grana padano
- salumi / prima donna cheese / focaccia
- macaroni verde w/ veal ragù bianco
- tonarelli w/ ‘nduja carbonara
- a bottle of Punset Barbaresco
The salumi board ended up being massive, so we ordered bread and cheese to go with it; by the time that was done all we could manage was a primi each. The secondi and dolci menus looked great, so we’ll have to go back and restrain ourselves out of the gate.
.:.
Cover photo from the Paradise site
Sexy self-help
On Tuesday Lindsay and I went to see Sasha Velour‘s Smoke & Mirrors show at the Danforth Music Hall. I didn’t really know what to expect — all I know was the famous Whitney Houston lip sync that Lindsay showed me when she was on Drag Race.
I was pretty blown away though, especially by the second half. The combination of a few great songs for the lip sync and the visuals felt like something I hadn’t seen before, and that gave me pretty visceral thrills at a few points. I mean, I get that I’m hardly an expert at drag revues, but Sasha dancing to Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon” backed by in-tux video Sashas was one of the cooler things I’ve ever seen on stage.
The Now Toronto review, while complimentary of some areas, called the visuals “obvious” and the show beholden to “the standard for drag […] set by Drag Race“, and I can see that, even though I think there has to be some audience service for what brought that big a crowd out in the first place. But the obvious (and even sweetly ragged at times, like during the Judy Garland number) visuals and choreography was part of what I admired about the show. Like, this growing pain of stepping onto a huge stage. This Herculean effort to bring a creative vision and narrative to life in the face of what I can only assume are ridiculous and frustrating barriers, not to mention logistical challenges. This pulling along of that TV audience into something more substantive, even if it wasn’t as substantive as it might have been. (Is it ever?)
To me it felt like bootstrapped brilliance. Like an artist who felt compelled to get this show out of them and into the world for everyone to see.
To me those will always be the best kind.
Mumbai gets it
Back when Lindsay was confined to the loft (she’s much better now, thanks!) we invested in some board games to break the indoor monotony. Neither of us are up on newer board or strategy games, having grown up with some classics, so some research was in order. We did buy a classic (Scrabble) but also bought a ten-year-old game we’d never heard of: Pandemic. And we’re hooked.
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Basically you save the world from virus outbreaks, and we lose as often as we win, even on the medium-difficulty setting. Which just makes us want to play it more.
.:.
Cover photo by SciTechTrend, used under Creative Commons license
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 