The 20th Luminato Festival didn’t always seem like a sure thing.
Budget cuts forced the arts festival to downsize programming in previous years, but it has prevailed, and this year celebrates two decades by again bringing internationally acclaimed theatre, film and performance artists to the streets of Toronto.
More than 60 exhibits will feature across the city from June 3 to 28, united by the overarching theme of play — whether it be childlike whimsy, the dynamics of a power play or an examination of fair play.
“I love this idea of a festival playing its city, subverting its architecture, subverting some of the stories of its underbelly, subverting the culture and languages that make the city what it is,” said artistic director Olivia Ansell.
This is Ansell’s second year at the helm of the festival. An Australian who recently marked her first full year living in Toronto, she said experiencing the frigid months of winter helped her understand the city’s “sense of freedom and bursting out” when summer finally comes. She hopes Luminato can be an artistic celebration that ushers in the sunny season.
Here are 10 must-see shows and exhibits from this year’s festival.
RedBall Toronto
June 3 to 7, across the city.
Don’t be alarmed if you spot a 15-foot blood-red ball infiltrating the city; it’s just progressive art. Artist Kurt Perschke has hidden his ball across six continents, and now he’s coming back to Toronto after a previous stint in the city in 2008. The scarlet orb will wedge between two new buildings every day, turning Toronto into a 641-square-kilometre game of “Where’s Waldo?”
Penn and Teller: 50 Years of Magic
June 5 and 6 at Meridian Hall.
The masters of magic are visiting Toronto for a victory lap of their storied career, where they will break out some beloved bits alongside new material. Expect Penn Jillette, the confident mouthpiece of the duo, and Teller, the silent partner who goes by one name, to play into classic comedy archetypes in the style that has earned them an Emmy award and a Las Vegas residency.
The Power of the Land
June 6 at the Harbourfront Centre.
This “daylong celebration of earth, water and community” celebrates Indigenous arts in all forms. Attendees will be able to learn the cultural philosophies of Turtle Island from the show’s curator, Elder Duke Redbird. The free show starts with an opening ceremony at Harbourfront at 11 a.m., and features live paintings, lectures and plenty of music before culminating in a show from Juno Award-winning DJ SHUB at 9:30 p.m.
Heartbreak Hotel
June 11 to 14 at Harbourfront Centre Theatre.
Can anybody really tell you what happens after a heart breaks? A theatre group from New Zealand takes their best shot at an answer with a show that mixes love stories, scientific breakdowns and classic breakup songs like Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel.” The performance earned stellar reviews in London and is fresh from an off-Broadway run.
Camion D’Intervention Artistique
June 12 at Sankofa Square. June 13 and 14 at the Harbourfront Centre.
Aerialists twist and contort while dangling from the top of a fire truck’s ladder in this free show from Quebec circus troupe CIART. The performers use a real truck as their stage for theatrical storytelling and displays of aerial acrobatics that will hit Sankofa Square and Harbourfront Centre for five shows.
Ode to Joy
June 12 at Sankofa Square.
When crafting the Luminato lineup, Ansell considered how a festival could truly embed itself inside a city. “Ode To Joy” was born from that question. A livestream of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Roy Thomson Hall will fill the megascreens at Sankofa Square, transforming the downtown hub. More than two dozen city choirs will also descend onto the square to sing the finale of the song, live. This will be synced to Canada’s first World Cup game; Ansell hopes the experience will help unify Toronto.
The Air Between Us
June 13 and 14 at the Harbourfront Centre.
New Zealand choreographer Chloe Loftus brings a free outdoor dance show to Harbourfront; she’ll perform an aerial routine with dancer and wheelchair-user Florent Devlesaver.
“It’s two dancers delicately balancing in space, and they do this as stunning aerial ballet in space in pure equilibrium,” Ansell said.
10 Days in a Mad House
June 16, 18, 20, 21 at Bluma Appel Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.
For American composer Rene Orth and Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch, there’s nothing more operatic than a psychiatric hospital. Inspired by famed journalist Nellie Bly, who faked illness to report undercover and expose the harsh treatment of women at Blackwell’s Asylum in 1887, the show is a “psychological opera” that re-examines power structures meant to discredit female voices, according to Ansell.
King Arthur’s Night
June 26 at Hot Docs Cinema.
This hybrid documentary represents a full-circle moment for the company that first performed a stage version of “King Arthur” at Luminato in 2017. The film blends classic Arthurian legend with candid behind-the-scenes footage of the performers, who are artists living with Down syndrome, working in their creative process.
Play Dead
June 25 to 28 at the Meridian Arts Centre.
Mundane settings become surreal as the players in this dance-meets-acrobatics-meets-theatre production frantically try to stay tethered to reality. Montreal troupe People Watching has toured the show across Europe, and it closes this year’s festival.
