Theatre: All of Him - An immigrant's "live" biography
Blog exclusive
All of Him is not a traditional play, where actors perform and audiences observe. In this case, the audience is treated as a community, a member of the cast if you wish, able to participate in the play through open dialogue during the entire show.
Written and performed by Tanya Pillay and directed by Jajube Mandiela, the story chronicles Tanya’s father, Pat Pillay’s entire life as reported through humourous, relatable anecdotes. Tanya narrates the story as herself (no acting!), based on real-life events.
The audience may interject at any time if they feel something needs elaboration or clarification. All interaction is completely voluntary and left up to the discretion of audience members. Tanya provides rare transparency as the audience receives increasingly personal family information such as birth defects and criminal accusations.
Tanya says her favourite thing about the show is "the way each audience can take it in a completely different direction. For example, when I presented the piece to a personal development group, they were especially interested in my perspective as a hypnotist. In contrast, a group of young newcomers to Canada became very focused on discussing spirituality and bereavement." That's right. Tanya is also an NGH-Certified Hypnotist for motivational purposes. But not to worry, there will be no hypnotism in this show.
The play was first presented at rock.paper.sistahz 2009 festival. Now it is programmed in Toronto's SummerWorks Festival (at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace), the largest juried festival in Canada featuring predominantly new Canadian plays, from August 5 to 15. Later on, it will be presented at FemFest, an annual celebration of transformational theatre by women, from September 25 to October 2.
If you can't catch it during Summerworks, the show is available for special presentations to any group interested in opening discussion about difficult topics for community growth. Tanya and director Jajube Mandiela even designed a follow-up emotional-awareness workshop, called Broach It!, in response to past audience requests for practical tools to manage difficult situations.
SummerWorks 2010 Performances:
- Friday August 6, 6pm
- Saturday August 7, 8pm
- Sunday August 8, noon
- Tuesday August 10, 10pm
- Friday August 13, 4pm
- Saturday August 14, 4pm
- Sunday August 15, 6pm
Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace:
16 Ryerson Ave (one block Northeast of Bathurst & Queen West).
Tickets: $12.50 advance or $10 door.
More info at www.artsboxoffice.ca