Are You Okay

Reviewed by Paula Citron

Are You Okay
Peggy Baker Dance Projects/Necessary Angel Theatre Company
Choreographed and performed by Peggy Baker
Written and performed by Michael Healey
Directed by Daniel Brooks
Factory Theatre Studio
Mar. 1 to 13, 2011

Peggy Baker continues to astonish. At 58, she dances for a continuous hour in the new dance theatre piece Are You Okay.

To clarify, Baker dances in response to the text written and spoken by award-winning playwright Michael Healey. To gild the lily, famed director Daniel Brooks did the staging.

I’m in awe of Baker’s stunning performance, and I really enjoyed Healey’s dry delivery, but I had difficulty with the piece as a whole.

The focus is Healey’s philosophical musings while walking to his office in downtown Toronto. His story actually fuses details from Baker’s life and his own. It’s an autobiographical journey whose goal is to finally admit who we really are.

Baker rivets the eye with her crisp sharp movements. Her body never betrays her, as Healey claims his does, in his monologue.

Unfortunately, I found the rambling script pretentious, but Healey is a master of ironic one-liners.

Are You Okay continues at Factory Theatre Studio until Mar. 13.