Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

(But others may swing) By Stephen Weir for the Caribbean Camera Zoe Doyle (l), Vlad Alexis and Sarah Afful (r) -  Obsidian Theatre Company photo A big part of Black History Month in Toronto is celebrating the Diaspora on “the boards”.   This month, Canada’s leading black theatre organization opened hang,   a very dark comedy that is a #MeToo take on crime and punishment. Maybe it is because February’s dance card is so filled with events it takes a lot to get noticed. hang speaks to what is going on in the world and is desperately in need of an audience.   The first play of the season for Obsidian has been running for a week and has yet to attract its traditional base, or even a critical review – till now. Obsidian Theatre Company, now in its 16 th year, says it was born out of a passionate sense of artistic responsibility. The mandate is” to bring the Black voice, in its many artistic dialects, to Canada’s cultural forefront”.  The theat...

British play to get North American premiere early next year     By Stephen Weir In Today's Caribbean Camera newspaper The set has been designed.   The costumes are being decided on this week.   Rehearsals begin right after the holiday break. Toronto’s Obsidian Theatre is in full-speed-ahead mode for the February North American premiere of hang by the accomplished young black British-born Londoner debbie tucker green. (no capital letters please) Philip Akin Her 70-minute play, which has had a successful run in London, is set in the near future.   A victim of a crime has a meeting in a dark tunnel with two “officials” who demand she decide how the criminal who has harmed her family should be executed!   The audience never finds out what the crime was or who the officials really are –the police, government secret operators, or a private security firm? “This is strong material, the playwright confronts it head on.   She is poeti...