Review: Script Smash

I'm not sure how I heard about Theatre Smash's "Script Smash".  I think something popped up on our Twitter feed or maybe I was browsing Facebook for events that I wasn't invited to.  Either way, I'm so glad that I found the event and ventured to Lower Ossington Theatre for a PWYC reading of "Bluebeard".

Bluebeard is originally a French Folktale scribed by Perault.  The story tells of a man who has adopted the practice of slaughtering his wives, one after the other, and displaying them in his home.  The German adaptation that was read last night, written by Dea Loher and translated by Daniel Brunet, reinvented Bluebeard's character to the point of him being a lovable, endearing young man played in the most adorable way by Steven McCarthy.  In last night's version, women couldn't help but fall in love with Bluebeard and the more of them whom he accidentally killed, the less he wanted to be loved.  Throughout the piece, Julia, a blind woman, played by Krista Colosimo and the only female character who doesn't immediately fall in love with Bluebeard, confronts his oddities. The absurd nature of the other women's love for Bluebeard and the unassuming craft of that absurdity made for a really enjoyable, intelligent script.

Script Smash is an annual event run by Theatre Smash. Each year, Theatre Smash translates a number of international scripts and workshops those scripts for possible production.  This year's Script Smash presents two German plays which have been newly translated to fulfill Theatre Smash's mission to premiere international works in Toronto.

Next week, another "unmistakably German" show entitled "The Thing" by Philipp Lohle and translated by Birgit Schreyer Buarte will be read at The Lower Ossington Theatre, Studio A for another PWYC reading.

We'll be there. Don't miss it!