Luminato presents a RIOT! And theatre, dance, music and magic
26 May 2018

Entering its second decade, the Luminato Festival is exploding in intriguing directions. The festival's motto is ambitious if vague - "Toronto's international arts festival dedicated to performance, media and visual arts, and programming that cuts across traditional artform boundaries" -which gives it leeway to help develop and present unique works of art from around the world. A quick browse of the glossy festival guide tempts with more than a few must-sees.

Who could resist "a disorderly cocktail of party and politics from Ireland's greatest artistic hooligans, RIOT combines dance, drag, circus, gut-punching spoken word and comedy?" The company THISISPOPBABY promises to "rip up the space between popular culture, counter culture, queer culture and high art." With Panti Bliss, Ireland's notorious activist drag queen and theatrical legend, front and centre, entertainment and provocation are guaranteed.

The troupe also includes the comedy/circus/dance - and clothing-averse - duo Lords of Strut who scandalized, and almost won, Britain's Got Talent. RIOT was more successful in the prize sweepstakes, being named Best Production at the Dublin Fringe Festival. The emphasis on queer is refreshing when so much high art is coded, and anything billing itself as "flashy, trashy, and fused with social commentary" and "brilliant, brazen and downright bizarre" is going to have to live up to it.

More intense is Burning Doors presented by Belarus Free Theatre, a company composed of Russian refugee artists. The company is banned from performing in Russia. An exploration of artists persecuted for dealing with issues, including but not limited to homosexuality, the company brings with it a special guest in Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina. It too trails a list of international awards and a stark warning that Burning Doors contains "nudity and scenes of violence and torture."

Luminato is also dedicated to putting Canadian artists into the mix and there are two queer-identified performers in the forefront. Vivek Shraya is one of the four panelists leading No Going Back a "town hall meeting" discussing the future of feminism. (They promise to be as riveting and glamorous as Amal Clooney who is also "in conversation" in a special festival event.) Yolanda Bonnell (The Crackwalker) has the world premiere of her one woman performance piece bug that was workshopped at Rhubarb. 

There is also Canadian content of the best kind with musical performances from Justin Nozuka and Tika, both of whom are expanding the spectrum of what Canadian pop, what pop music as an entity, means. Outside the March (Mr Burns a Post-Electric Play)and The Musical Stage Company (Fun Home, Onegin, Falsettos) team up with hot theatre artists Anika and Britta Johnson for Dr Silver: A Celebration of Life. The musical work in progress or "experience" is shrouded in secrecy to the point where it is performed at an undisclosed location only to be revealed to those with tickets. With the pedigree of those involved, it is worth risking winding up in whatever environment they deem necessary to create the proper ambiance.

Stephin Merritt is celebrating his first half-century on the planet with 50 Song Memoir. Spread over two nights, 25 songs a night, Merritt will be accompanied by an expanded version of The Magnetic Fields. The staging includes short films and presumably 50 of Merritt's eccentricities. Merritt created the sublime 69 Love Songs, has mixed theatre and pop music to startling effect, and was an openly gay pop musician way before that was even conceivable. He is an acquired taste but one that is addictive.

At the high priced and exclusive end of Luminato is the 24 seats a night At the Illusionist's Table. Illusionist Scott Silven hosts an evening of fine dining, mentalism, magic and whisky tasting in a private lounge. Performed at Casa Loma, the soiree will undoubtedly be mysterious as "guests won't believe their eyes, ears, or taste buds as candles flicker, whisky flows, and conversation stirs." An intimate dinner with a sexy illusionist with unkempt hair, piercing eyes and deft hands? And whisky? Sounds like a hot ticket.

The most physical and erotic of the arts is represented by a "raw interpretation" of Swan Lake from Ireland's Michael Keegan-Doolan, and the fiery latin jazz of Cuba's Malpaso Dance. But why leave it to the professionals when dance is, at its best, participatory? Four hundred Torontonians have been rehearsing for three months to star in Le Grand Continental, an ecstatic extravaganza taking place, for free, at Nathan Phillips Square. And its followed by a "post show dance party." With any luck, Panti Bliss and the Lords of Strut with show up making it a dance RIOT.