a brilliantly executed piece of theatre

The National Post

What happens when a woman meets her husbands mistress on Christmas Eve?

This is the question that playwright August Strindberg asked in his 1889 play The Stronger and that award-winning physical theatre company Theatre Rusticle revisits in their original work The Stronger Variations.

Set in the sumptuous world of the 1950s, The Stronger Variations uses an intergenerational cast of five women to examine the many ways that feminine power, sisterhood, sexuality, compassion, and betrayal can express themselves. Srindbergs original text was a twenty-minute monologue for two women a wife who speaks and a mistress who remains silent. Theatre Rusticle blows apart the original text by giving multiple voices to each of the women, providing a rich and nuanced portrait of female relationships and allowing us to discover how we are not so different from each other.

The Stronger Variations was first presented at the Toronto Fringe in 2005 and was hailed as one of the best shows of the year. An expanded version was staged at Harbourfront Centre the next year, garnering a Dora nomination for designer Michelle Ramsay.

Featuring: Liza Balkan, Andrya Duff, Chala Hunter, Viv Moore & Lucy Rupert

Stage Management: Sarah O'Brien.

Production Management: Charissa Wilcox

Set Design: Lindsay Anne Black But she's retired

Costume Design: Dylan Bobier

Lighting Design: Michelle Ramsay.

Fight Direction: Simon Fon

Direction: Allyson McMackon

and big help from Matthew Lawrence, Sandra Mandich, Michelle Tracey & Geneal St.Clair

Tickets 416 975-8555