"Swim Team", Theatre Centre, Toronto, ON

SummerWorks started on Thursday.  Tickets start at $15 (you pay what you want).

SummerWorks is a curated festival recognized nationally and internationally as a launching pad for new and experimental work. We are interested in continuously re-imagining and innovating the possibilities for performance – how it is created, presented and experienced. 

SummerWorks supports work that has a clear artistic vision and explores a specific theatrical aesthetic. It encourages risk, questions, and creative exploration while insisting on accessibility, integrity and professionalism. SummerWorks is the place where dedicated, professional artists are free to explore new territory and take artistic risks. Rather than getting larger, we strive to get better. We look to introduce professional artists from diverse communities to each other and be inspired by our similarities and differences.

Over the last couple of years, Gord and I have seen many SummerWorks productions and have enjoyed them.  We like them because you never know what to expect.

This afternoon we saw Swim Team.

Inspired by real stories from the world of women’s sports in post-revolutionary Iran, "Swim Team" follows three women who are determined to learn to swim in a place devoid of water. When their coach transforms her small apartment into a training facility, they discover that it can still be tricky to achieve your dreams, even when they’re just in your imagination.

A female coach has moved to a place that doesn't have any water because of a recent drowning.  When three women want to learn how to swim, it makes it tricky because there is no water nearby.  The coach transforms her apartment into a swimming pool (with imaginary water) and teaches them how to hold their breath, swim and even dive.

This was a different play and I thought it was okay.  It was interesting to see the women really get into learning how to swim when it was obvious there was no water.  It ran for 60 minutes.  As a head's up, there is swearing.  Today was the premiere and there was a Q&A after the play.

It is playing at the Theatre Centre, which is in our 'hood.