Plays by Men
Canada Split: A Flush of Tories & Rexy!
Read together, A Flush of Tories and Rexy! form comic bookends, the first viewing our current dilemmas in the context of Conservative leadership in the last century; the second, in the context of more recent Liberal leadership. >>
Based on Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov's scathing 1925 satire Heart of a Dog, Robert Astle's one-man show brilliantly recreates the story of a dog's-eye view of tyranny and social injustice. >>
Selkirk Avenue, long the street of dreams for new immigrants to Winnipeg, is seen through a close-up lens in this play, narrated by Harold, who has recorded the lives of the inhabitants from his photography studio through the changes of the years. >>
Summer of My Amazing Luck: The Play
With all the humour, compassion, and intelligence of Miriam Toews' novel, this inventive stage adaptation takes audiences on a hilarious and heartbreaking journey as Lucy discovers that this may be the summmer when everything changes. >>
Based on the life of Vahan Poladian, a displaced Armenian who lost his family during the Turkish invasion, The Hats of Mr. Zenobe is a poignant indictment of war. In this one-man show, Astle recreates Poladian's twice-daily street performances. >>
When Bob, a blind piano tuner, is summoned out to a house on the prairie to tune a derelict piano, he discovers that the piano has been "prepared" with sounds, objects and stories from his own past which he must confront in order to bring the instrument back into tune. >>
In Anton, a Russian emigré finds himself drawn into the lives of three wealthy sisters who live together because they can't agree on selling their inherited Westmount mansion. No Cycle is a series of five vignettes that echo off each other in surprising and moving ways. >>
Walking on Water is an engaging and theatrical murder mystery. It's also a hilarious return to a place and time of moral clarity, good guys and bad guys, tough broads and daring dames. >>