Once again this season, as is often the case, the strongest pieces at the Shaw Festival reside in the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre. Directed by Philip Akin, The House That Will Not Stand is a complex and moving mandate-era exploration of freedom and family. Written in 2014, Marcus Gardley’s New Orleans-set drama explores an […]
My favourite Stratford production so far* this year is undoubtedly The Diviners, Verne Thiessen & Yvette Nolan’s grand adaptation of Margaret Laurence’s novel of the same name. Staged with beautiful fluidity by Krista Jackson with Geneviève Pelletier, the production contains some of the season’s grandest celebration and its quietest tenderness. The great Irene Poole […]
The Shaw Festival’s mainstage programming this year runs the full gamut from the best in the biz to completely disappointing. At the top of the heap, the most reliable man in Canadian Theatre- Crow’s Theatre artistic director Chris Abraham- takes on the ridiculous farce of One Man, Two Guvnors. It’s a nonsense script full […]
This season’s Shaw Festival programming on the Royal George Theatre’s iconic proscenium stage showcases a strong assortment of styles and themes ranging from trademark execution of a Shaw classic, to a freshly adapted childhood favourite, hyper-stylized Chinese fable, and a noir vision of a twisty whodunnit. As current Artistic Director Tim Carroll continues to […]
A light style and dark material sets the contrasting tone for the Capitol’s blockbuster musical of the summer. The Full Monty vibes like silly fun but the story is packed with simmering sadness, overwhelming stress, and dark gender norms. Striking that balance is a tricky proposition but director Julie Tomaino smartly keeps the action […]
Click Here to read all our reviews from Toronto Fringe 2024. Crosstown (A) A debut work written and performed by the much celebrated Anand Rajaram is a big deal for the Fringe and the quality of this production lives up to that expectation. The simple staging and on-book performance suggest this is still a work in […]
After Tuesday’s performance of Mad Madge at The Theatre Centre, producer (in associaton with VideoCabaret) Nightwood Theatre organized a panel of theatre-makers to discuss the trend of fictionalized history on stage (or, put another way, an examination of coincidental aesthetic consistency in the Rose Napoli extended universe). The texts up for discussion were Kat Sandler‘s […]
Three Sisters (Soulpepper & Obsidian Theatre Company) For Inua Ellams’ adaptation of Three Sisters set during the Nigerian Civil War, two of Toronto’s most prestigious theatre companies and acclaimed director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu (also the Artistic Director of Obsidian, one of said prestigious companies) have assembled the all-starriest of all-star casts, bringing together an incredibly […]