Nightwood Theatre defines itself as a feminist theatre company whose mandate includes providing an ‘essential home for the creation of extraordinary theatre by women.’ These two pieces, currently on stage at Buddies in Bad Times, certainly hit that mandate. Quiver Written and performed by Anna Chatterton, Quiver is a story about a mother and her […]
Dead End (Theatre Lab) This light-hearted one-act from playwright Jonny Sun and director Michael Orlando is the perfect Halloween-themed diversion in Toronto’s current sea of self-serious theatre. Sun traps bantering high school pals Christian Smith and Chris Wilson* in a dead end hallway as they flee the zombie horde that’s taken over their school, inviting […]
A few years ago, Bletchley Park became a minor academic obsession of mine. After discovering the code-breaking history of this British installation, I read everything about Bletchley that I could get my hands on, from books about the history of Bletchley and its hard-working inhabitants to Alan Turing’s biography and his paper on computable numbers. […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews Situational Anarchy (A) This was a very succesful SummerWorks and a lot of the credit for that goes to the vast array of excellent storytelling shows. Graham Isador’s evocative punk rock solo show is yet another strong showing in that category. Filled with rage […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews Trompe-La-Mort, or Goriot in the 21st Century (A) The great success of Trompe-la-Mort lies in the unexpected pairing of director Ted Witzel (an avant-garde intellectual with a strong visual aesthetic and Brechtian sensibility, known for mining timely poignancy from classical texts) and playwright Anthony […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews Goggles Must Be Worn at All Times (B+) Strange, arcane, and with a level of technical wizardry that can be nothing but impressive, Goggles is a show with a lot of pieces, and keeping an eye on all of them is next to impossible. […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews Extremophiles (A) A delicate, grounded, two-handed story about an anthropologist and her subject in the apocalyptic near-future, Extremophiles is played by a single performer (playwright Georgina Beaty) oscillating between young and old(er), optimistic and weary, open and guarded, visionary and practical with incredible nuance […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews Adam Lazarus is an approachable, involving performer. He bounds onto the stage wearing fairy wings and shows us a dance his 5-year-old daughter choreographed for him. You’re sure from the moment Daughter begins that Lazarus is a nice guy and he’ll tell you the […]