I got far too hyped discussing the last big Hamlet and, worst of all, it ended up not being that big—Cumberbatch was competent, but the production didn’t generate discussion beyond theatre demography and the post-show ‘fuck the politicians’ appeal. This one, in the Almeida’s tight proscenium, is far larger, in thought rather than aspect, and […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2016 MyTheatre Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. There are only a few artists who one might call staples of the MyTheatre Awards nomination list- Jesse Nerenberg is undoubtedly one of them. He won Best Actor the first year the awards existed, won Outstanding Ensemble last […]
The Winter’s Tale (Groundling Theatre Company) I’ve talked about this production before, focusing mainly on the problems that overwhelm the action of the first and last acts of this strangely dichotomous play. Sicilia is grey, over-dramatic, over-acted and full of unnecessary melisma but what I discovered upon a return trip (this time set against the lantern-lit […]
A timely and shaded production that breathes much-needed life into the faces of primary school history posters. Based on Friedrich Schiller’s text from 1800, Mary Stuart- both adapted and directed by Robert Icke- is unexpectedly riveting. Following the story of Mary Queen of Scots and her cousin, Elizabeth I, it recounts Mary’s final days in prison […]
This Seven Siblings Theatre production of Titus Andronicus is set in a fantasy world that mirrors a dystopic future: after a long and gruesome war with the Goths (fierce scavengers of the surface), the Andronicus family takes Tamora, Queen of the Goths, and her sons, to their military bunker in the catacombs of Rome, a […]
The Aeneid Under the guise of greek mythology, playwright Olivier Kemeid (with translator Maureen Labonté) and director Keira Loughran have snuck an honest-to-god contemporary piece of full-length theatre into the Stratford Festival. A shamelessly modern story about the refugee crisis told through physical theatre (something you rarely see even in the studio) with a young, […]
The Tom Patterson theatre is great; it allows for fully in-the-round staging (or in-the-rectangle, rather) and it’s big enough that the kings aren’t undermined by a crowd too small for their thundering speeches but it’s small enough that we can see them up close for the men they are underneath the crown. I wouldn’t wish […]
For Shakespeare fans feeling like other interests of theirs are being underserved in the theatre, the Driftwood Theatre Group is offering audience members across Ontario the rare chance to enjoy some light S&M along with their Bard, and in the glorious outdoors. Director D. Jeremy Smith and dramaturge Myekah Payne’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s controversial play […]