A Mamet play is all about the language. Everything you need to know is right there in the half sentences and blustering speeches, the interruptions, the curses, that strange combination of grandiosity and hyper-realism. In the slice-of-life one-act Lakeboat– with the exception of Stephen Macdonald, whose leading performance as a sensitive recruit is marked far more […]
Oh, Giuseppe Verdi, how I adore your dedication to stories worth telling. You are, of course, a splendid composer whose soaring melodies and lush orchestrations fly beautifully from the mouths of the COC’s chorus and the bows of its spectacular orchestra (here under the capable baton of Marco Guidarini) but the real reason I love […]
They Say He Fell is a fascinating experiment, both aesthetically and narratively. Based on the stories of Toronto-based photographer Nir Baraket (who unfortunately passed away earlier this year), the play is a rumination on memory; how we remember facts versus our embellishments, and does it really matter which is which? The play circles around a […]
Canadian Stage just opened its 2015-2016 with Beckett Trilogy (Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby) at the Berkely Street Theatre. Directed by Walter Asmus (Beckett’s long-time friend and collaborator) and starring Lisa Dwan, this trilogy – performed back to back without intermission – is essentially an hour long one-woman show. But this is not a typical theatre piece, and […]
An Enemy of the People was originally an Ibsen play that has been translated by Maria Milisavljevic and adapted by Florian Borchmeyer then staged by Tarragon artistic director Richard Rose with a distinctly Canadian political slant and is now being remounted with mostly new actors. The plot is so incredibly relevant to our current politics that […]
Rowing (Then They Fight) Writer/director Aaron Jan’s new play about a small town rowing team sports a strong cast delivering well crafted quick-pace dialogue. Each individual arc is, for the most part, clear and engaging, especially those of the contrastingly lovelorn Chris and Rick, played with great pathos and excellent timing by Lauren Griffiths and […]
After a summer off to make way for Panamania, Toronto’s biggest repertory company has returned to regularly scheduled programming with a diverse slate of four new productions running now through the 18th, soon to be followed by returning favourite Spoon River. Here’s the lowdown on their latest: Marat/Sade This weird, bold, complicated, controversial, thoughtful, accusatory, […]
Finding Funny is a one-person show directed by Andrew Ferguson, and written and performed by Daniel Stofi, about a comedian backstage during a stand-up show. He’s about to go on, feeling frustrated with his current routine, and unsure of how to proceed. He tries to dig deep within his memory to figure out what inspired […]