This really excellent Shaw season is remarkable for many reasons but perhaps the most notable (at this particular moment in Canadian theatrical history) is its focus on and opportunities for women. They are muses (The Divine) and heroes (Peter & the Starcatcher), complex ingénues and feisty matriarchs (Pygmalion, The Lady from the Sea), scene-stealers (You […]
The full title of the Shaw Festival’s latest studio theatre offering is almost as long as its running time (a whopping 3 hours and 50 minutes): The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures. Besides the fact that most plays in the studio have no intermission and this one […]
The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt was the last production I saw this year at the Shaw Festival (I’m reviewing out of order because this simply couldn’t wait). Before I saw this world premiere (four years in the making by Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard and translator Linda Gaboriau), I was already considering the […]
The Stratford Festival is having some women issues this year with a season that includes a dispiriting number of plays with misogynistic themes and not enough female-led works (though the late openers may help matters, hopefully). In contrast, at least in my opinion, The Shaw Festival is killing it on the female front despite the gender […]
Director Jim Mezon’s staging of this GBS classic is full of light and laughter though its thematic consequences are limited once you excuse the dated gender politics (which, at a certain point, one learns to do automatically with dated texts). At one of the higher points in the play’s tumultuous central romance, frosty “New Woman” […]
Our Shaw Festival coverage this season is brought to you by the wonderful Highgrove Bed & Breakfast in Niagara-on-the-Lake. A rare affordable option a short walk from the central Queen Street (15 minutes or less depending on the pace of your meander), this charming house named after Prince Charles’ residence is presided over by the […]
On Monday March 30th, the Toronto theatre community gathered together at The Great Hall on Queen West to celebrate all the amazing work that made it to the stage in 2014. They got their picture taken by Nick Pigeau Photography in front of our branded media wall, ate cupcakes and sushi provided by The Cupcake […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2014 My Theatre Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. A Toronto stage alum, Kevin Hanchard has been busy the last few years making his name in film and television. Now with a huge hit TV show under his belt (and heading into season three- keep your […]