Click Here to read all our reviews from Toronto Fringe 2024.    Rat Academy (A) Crystal clear dramaturgy, impeccable character work, and impressive technical skill mark this clown duet about endangered Albertan rats as a can’t-miss oddity. Honouring the heart of clown tradition with a classic White/Auguste pairing, Katie Yoner and Dayna Lea Hoffmann’s Fingers […]

 

The 2024 Toronto Fringe Festival kicked off on July 3, running through July 14. Two of our writers, Kelly and Lisa, were on hand to see as many shows as possible. This year that number was 46.   Listen to our Preview Piece to hear the artists pitch their work then check out the links below […]

Designed to be performed as a three-piece bill but able to be pulled apart and presented in pieces, George Balanchine’s Jewels is a clever and beautiful work (set of work?) that showcases the full company of the National Ballet of Canada from the dancers to the designers to the orchestra through three distinct styles and […]

Medea (Canadian Opera Company)  Set to a broody and demanding score by Luigi Cherubini with Carlo Zangarini’s Italian libretto translation, the COC’s ambitious new co-pro mines Euripides’ iconic tragedy for every ounce of its delicious melodrama and winningly rejects pressure to impose important modern meaning upon the disturbing tale. A twist ending that sees the […]

Woking Phoenix (Silk Bath Collective & Theatre Passe Muraille) Anchored by an incandescent performance from Phoebe Hu as a single mom trying to raise three kids while running a small town’s only Chinese restaurant, Woking Phoenix is a delicate and moving tribute to immigrant parents, created by Silk Bath Collective and currently onstage at Theatre […]

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 […]

Now in its fifth year, Three Ships Collective/Soup Can Theatre’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol has become a tradition so wildly popular that it’s been sold out for weeks. It’s a slam dunk of an idea, an immersive Christmas Carol staged throughout a historic 1822 home, but the company never leans on the concept to […]

Coal Mine Theatre’s Chief Engineers Diana Bentley & Ted Dykstra stand out among Canadian theatre heads for the consistency of their taste level in both script selection and personnel. Not every production at Coal Mine will work for every audience member but every production is thoughtfully programmed, expertly produced, and brought to life by a […]