Come Dec. 13, avant-garde troupe One Yellow Rabbit won't be Doing Leonard Cohen at the Factory Theatre in Toronto, any more.
Doing Leonard Cohen concentrates less on Cohen's songs than his literary efforts, such as "Beautiful Losers," "Death of a Lady's Man" and "Flowers For Hitler."
Blake Brooker has adapted and directed the poetic material, which is staged by Denise Clarke. Appearing in Doing Leonard Cohen will be Rabbit ensemble members Clarke, Andy Curtis, Michael Green and Elizabeth Stepkowski. Greg Casselman designed the set.
Albums by Cohen include "Songs From A Room, Death Of A Ladies' Man, I'm Your Man" and "New Skin For The Old Ceremony". His music was featured in the Robert Altman film, "McCabe And Mrs. Miller," and Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers". Cohen songs include "Suzanne," "Everybody Knows," "Hallelujah" and "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy."
Alongside Cohen, One Yellow Rabbit will also present Permission, an hour-long "tribute" to Edward Albee's play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, based around the characters of Martha and George. Permission will run six performances, Dec. 2-12. Blake Brooker adapted and directed Permission, with Chris Cran designing the set.
For tickets to either of One Yellow Rabbit's productions, call the Factory Theatre box office at (416)-504-9971. The Factory Theatre is located at 125 Bathurst Street.
-- By Christine Ehren, Sean McGrath and David Lefkowitz