Shows In Small Spaces Part 4: Bread & Circus
Posted December 22, 2009 9:12 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CityNews.ca writer Shawne McKeown highlights some of Toronto’s tiniest theatres – 100 seats, or less – in the six-part series “Shows in Small Spaces”.
Part 1: The Cameron House; Part 2: The Alumnae Theatre Studio; Part 3: Bad Dog Theatre; Part 5: Tarragon Theatre’s Extra Space; Part 6: Theatre Passe Muraille’s Back Space
Part 4 – Bread and Circus, 299 Augusta Ave. (85 Seats)
“To me, this is the point where all forms of art meet.”
Jackie English’s description of her 85-seat theatre in Kensington Market, Bread and Circus, is on the mark with visual artists promoted on just about every wall and the stage occupied by a wide array of musicians, comedians and actors nearly every night of the week.
Bread and Circus moved in to its Augusta Avenue location about a year ago, after spending about a year at its former home down the street on Baldwin.
English, a dancer, actor and musician, and her two fellow owners did most of the grunt work renovating the former skate shop. She pointed out the tiles at the front entrance, which she laid herself. They inherited a lighting grid from a now defunct theatre company and soundproofed the roof. English said some of the performers who regularly occupy the Bread and Circus stage also played a big role in the renovation process.
What used to be a mini skate park is now a snug theatre with red walls and tiered seating in the back and the front area is also a warm, inviting place to have a drink before or after a show.
One of the best-known weekly events at Bread and Circus may be The Carnegie Hall Show, an improvised variety show followed by an improvised, 1940s-style radio play. Second City alumni Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus, former MadTV performer Ron Pederson and Chris Gibbs, known collectively as the National Theatre of the World, hit the stage every Wednesday at 9pm with a number of interesting guests.
English said Tuesdays are dedicated to showcasing indie music and Bread and Circus is a venue for the upcoming NXNE and Canadian Music Week festivals. The Kensignton theatre is also hosting a tabla festival in February.
Bread and Circus also hosts theatre and proved to be a highly-popular venue for the Fringe Festival last summer, hosting four shows, including the hit “My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding”, which ended up becoming a Mirvish production currently running at the Panasonic Theatre.
“On [Thursday, Friday and Saturdays], what usually happens is at 8pm, there’s some kind of a show, usually a play of some kind, sometimes it’s comedy … and then after that there’s always bands,” English said of the double-format programming for the weekends.
Bread and Circus is also a prime location for theatre companies to hold fundraisers and the space is also capable of holding screenings.
English said Bread and Circus is available to all artists, regardless of experience or reputation and said rentals are organized on a first-come-first-serve basis.
“One of the mandates of this place is to give emerging talent and people a chance,” she explained.
“If you walk in and you want the space and if you believe you have a show or a concept or a music group then I’m going to believe you and book you. That being said, depending on the success of that project we have events come back. But I say everybody gets one.”
Bread and Circus is hosting a New Year’s Eve Beatles dance party featuring English’s cover band The Mockers.
For more information on upcoming events at Bread and Circus, click here or visit the Facebook page.
