Reviews 2010
Reviews 2010
✭✭✭✩✩
written by Sarah Murphy-Dyson, directed by Wes Berger
Mia Productions, Toronto Fringe Festival,
Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace, Toronto
July 2-10, 2010
Beneath all the beauty in classical ballet lies a sea of physical and emotional pain. That is the message of The Naked Ballerina, the semi-autobiographical show by the very sympathetic Sarah Murphy-Dyson, a former soloist with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. The art form whose ideal is effortless perfection gradually fills Murphy-Dyson’s ballerina with feelings of inadequacy and fear that lead her to bulimia, sex, drugs and alcohol. While excerpts from the ballerina’s diary and the framing fairy tale are clear, who exactly the ballerina is addressing often is not and the fragmentary revelation of dark secrets makes us long for a stronger narrative line.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2010-07-03.
Photo: Sarah Murphy-Dyson.
2010-07-03
The Naked Ballerina