When David Hare's searing docu-drama, Stuff Happens, premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2004 it was quickly hailed for its depth and insight into what was then the still unfolding saga of deception and military adventurism that resulted in the failed Bush policy in Iraq. Like many of Hare's plays (Plenty, A Map of the World, Pravda) it soon entered the international repertoire. When Studio 180 mounted the show in March of 2008 at the 284 seat Berkeley Theatre in Toronto, it quickly became the hit of the season with sold out performances for the length of the run. It was subsequently mounted in Vancouver in the fall of that same year by the Firehall Arts Centre in a production directed by Donna Spencer.
Robin Breon
Venezuela's classical music revolution takes Toronto by storm
The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra (SBYO) of Venezuela has taken Toronto by storm. In a whirlwind of events this week the founder and leading spirit of the orchestra, Jose Antonio Abreu, was in town to accept the $50,000 Glenn Gould Prize, whose past recipients have included the likes of Oscar Peterson, Yehudi Menuhin and Pierre Boulez.
Long live Susan Boyle!
What is it within the cynical souls of the pundits and reviewers of the mainstream media that has unleashed such a torrent of reproach against Susan Boyle, the previously unemployed daughter of a Scottish coal miner who recently was so enthusiastically received on Britain’s Got Talent and as a result is unemployed no longer?
Good Jobs for All Summit maps 'green-brick road' for labour
With over 1,000 delegates in attendance representing over 36 organizations ranging from a strong contingent of organized labour combined with numerous community, social service and environmental groups, last weekend's Good Jobs for All Summit (GJAS) held at the Metro Convention Center in Toronto was a trailblazing success that ignited a new alliance of like-minded constituencies.
Coming on the heels of the New Living Wage Report that was also released last week by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) in cooperation with the Good Jobs Coalition, the GJAS had two main messages for governing political parties both federal and provincial.
New labour and social justice
Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and A New Path Toward Social Justice
(University of California Press,
2008;
$30.14)
Author, educator and union activist, Bill Fletcher, Jr., was the keynote speaker for a conference entitled Globalization, Union Renewal and the Fight for Social Justice at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto last month. The event was sponsored by the Labour Education Centre. Fletcher, formerly the president of TransAfrica Forum, is co-author (with Fernando Gapasin) of the recently released book, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice. The book is a candid appraisal of the U.S. trade union movement that draws deep lessons from history while constructively critiquing the present.
Robin Breon met up with Fletcher for this exclusive interview for rabble.ca readers.
The wit and irony of Phil Ochs live on
“A protest song is a song that is so specific that you cannot mistake it for bullshit,” wrote Phil Ochs on the liner notes of his album, The Broadside Tapes. What would the militant folk singer of the 1960s think of the world today? What might he sing and speak about if he were still performing? Although we'll never know the answer to that one, the music of Phil Ochs remains obbligato for those interested in popular protest songs emerging from the peace movement of the 1960s.
No moral qualms at War Museum
Last year a controversy erupted at the Canadian War Museum when a group of veterans complained about a panel of text that raised concerns regarding the Allied bombing of Dresden during the air war against Germany in the Second World War.
Chile thriving after death of dictator
It was not by prior design that my partner and I landed in Chile only five days after the death of Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet. Our tickets had been booked months in advance and it was just a happy coincidence that we were able to partake in a number of pisco sours (Chile's national drink) that were still being raised in celebratory toasts on the streets of Santiago.
Stratford: Cool theatre for summer's parching heat
âeoeThe Americans arenâe(TM)t coming âe¦ the Americans arenâe(TM)t coming!âe
Canadian cultural institutions are feeling the strain of the downturn in the economy.
Itâe(TM)s not only the automotive industries and the towns in which they are centered in Ontario (Oshawa, Oakville, Windsor) that are feeling the pinch with regard to the rise in oil and gas prices and attendant layoffs by Ford (which recently posted a quarterly loss of $8.7 billion) and General Motors respectively.