Theatre Review - Oraltorio: a Theatrical Mixtape, Super Dope
No mixed message for Obsidian Theatre Oraltorio: a Theatrical Mixtape is dope! By Stephen Weir Live theatre in Canada usually mean that the audience sits quietly and watches while the actors tell them stories about things they probably don’t know. Not so for Oraltorio, now in its final week of performances at the Soulpepper complex in the Distillery District. Clap, stand, dance, and give shout-outs to the two performers on stage. That is how ticketholders react to singer/poet Motion and DJ L’oqenz in this 80-minute coming-of-age musical mash-up. More an musical event than a play, it is all about being young, female and part of Toronto’s evolving hip-hop scene. “This is so so dope,” said the young woman sitting beside me in the near filled Soulpepper Theater. For her it was all about the music – the two performers channelled everything from flag waving Soca singers to lyrical Jamaican market callers. And for me? It sure was “dope”, but for a different reason. This