Machine Fair

We are so grateful to everyone who participated in our just completed residency for What You Want: Toronto, from our hosts at Passe Muraille, to our amazing team of artists through to our attentive and engaged audiences. Thank you all. See you at the next adventure.

If you'd like to keep up to date with our work, please like our new Facebook page or for tweets from both Andrew and the company follow us on Twitter.

Ryan Kerr writes about his experience on the opening night of our residency at Mooney on Theatre. And read more about the residency and Andrew Templeton in the Parkdale Liberty Villager, available online at InsideToronto.

A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.

Graham Greene, The End of the Affair

WHAT YOU WANT: TORONTO

Written and Directed by Andrew Templeton

Performers: Gillian Bennett, Russell Bennett, Alex Poch-Goldin & Melanie Bray. Soundscape & Projections: David Mesiha. Producer & Dramaturge: Jill Margo.

A MachineFair Production

If you like your theatre hip and cool, hot and sexy and very, very metatheatrical, What You Want might be exactly what you want.

-Jo Ledingham, Vancouver Courier.

Two cities, two scripts. Playwright Andrew Templeton, originally from Vancouver, now living in Toronto, experiments with bringing these works together at Bring the Buzz. Both are almost true stories that weave a one-man show through the stories of four characters.

WHAT YOU WANT: VANCOUVER

In 2001, Templeton returned to his hometown of Vancouver after a fifteen year absence. What You Want is the story of what he found. The play probes the sexual desires and romantic foibles of a city that is at once real and imagined. An adult comedy for those who haven’t grown up yet.

WHAT YOU WANT: TORONTO

In 2010, Templeton wrote the smash-hit What You Want, a goodbye letter to Vancouver. In 2011, he and his characters moved to Toronto. A not-so-adult comedy for those who have unexpectedly grown up.

For three weeks, MachineFair will be in residency at Theatre Passe Muraillecreating What You Want: Toronto, the sequel to the Vancouver-based play and mashing it all together. Over the course of the residency we will be inviting audiences to provide their feedback and contribute to the creation of this new work. With special themed events and talk back sessions.

All events are pay what you can. Avance tickets available online from the Arts Box Office, by phoning 416.504.7529 or in person at Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave, during box office hours.

Thursday, October 18th, 7:30pm

WHAT YOU WANT VANCOUVER & VANGUARD TALK BACK

A reading of the original Vancouver script: An adult comedy for those who haven’t grown up yet. Vancouver ex-pats/theatre artists now living in Toronto and in attendance will lead a discussion regarding their own experiences with the two cities.

Check out our VanGuard page for more information.

Saturday, October 20th, 7:30pm

WHAT YOU WANT VANCOUVER & WHAT YOU WANT TORONTO MASH-UP

Vancouverites get hot under the collar about Toronto; Torontonians keep their collars cool. We take elements from both scripts and mash them together and see what we come up with.

Friday, October 26th, 7:30pm

THE TORONTO MONOLOGUES & PLAYWRIGHTS NIGHT

There’s a reason why Andrew Templeton is a playwright and not performer. Come and see how he makes out delivering a cycle of monologues on Toronto, not having children, and other random things that may (or may not) be included in the final iteration of the script. We'll also be hosting an informal chat on the creation of the work.

Saturday, October 27th, 7:30pm

THE TORONTO SCENES

Come and see the scenes involving the characters sans the meta-theatricality of the playwright. Is What You Want really just a straight ahead drama? Tell us what you think.

Friday, November 2nd and Saturday, November 3rd

WHAT YOU WANT, THE FINAL(ISH) ITERATION

These two presentations will represent the culmination of the material as evolved throughout the Bring the Buzz residency.

Part of the vision of MachineFair is to create work that is intellectually stimulating, emotionally truthful and accessible. With their Toronto production of Biographies of the Dead & Dying, audiences can expect to witness a perfect shot, a bull’s-eye.

George Perry, Mooney on Theatre

I have never felt salvation in nature. I love cities above all.

Michelangelo