Hart House’s Tempest, which runs until November 22, was certainly big on ambition. While there were moments of brilliance here, they often came too few and far between. The ensemble of nymphs, expertly choreographed by Ashleigh Powell, executed coherent and well-rounded physical and vocal performances. The Troupe of white-clothed and white-powdered spirits (compliments of […]
Australian acrobatic company Circa has livened CanStage with a refreshingly new and desperately needed contemporary circus show. Opus is 75 non-stop minutes of circus feats, but also shows the audience a new side of modern circus. It was a difficult transition, it seemed, for many patrons to adjust their pre-show anticipation into respectful awe and […]
At our My Theatre Awards party back in April, there was an extremely loud table in the back corner, which the inhabitants called the “Single Safe Soup” table (a mashup of Single Thread, safeword, and Soup Can Theatre). In a theatrical landscape with limited resources from money to playing space to really great actors, one […]
The Bakelite Masterpiece (Tarragon Theatre) This new one-act by Kate Cayley tells the thematically rich (and fictionally embellished) story of Han van Meegeren (Georgie Johnson) whose sale of a Vermeer painting to a Nazi in occupied Holland put him on trial for treason at the end of the war. His life-saving argument that it was […]
The newest theatrical anthology from Toronto’s geek theatre company is shaped around four instalments of “Sidekicks”, a rumination on the role of henchmen and second fiddles by Manda Whitney & Errol Elumir (of Debs & Errol). Starring Andrew Gaunce, adorable as a hapless but mouthy minion, and the charming Jordi O’Dael in the much more complex […]
Two strong but ultimately uninspiring productions are currently playing at the Four Seasons Centre as the kick off to the Canadian Opera Company’s 2014/15 season. Though they’re of comparable overall quality, Falstaff and Madama Butterfly have little in common. The former is visually grand with lots of awkwardly long breaks to change the elaborate sets […]
Artichoke Hearts’ We Walk Among You, the puppet show at the tarragon extraspace, is one of the most emotive, and beautifully executed theatre pieces I’ve ever seen. From the world they create, the creatures they bring to live, and the complex story they tell,We Walk Among You is a beautiful, funny and sad story not to […]
Enemy of the People: an open forum Florian Borchmeyer’s modern adaptation of the Ibsen play An Enemy of the People (translated by Maria Milisavljevic) attempts to instill the 1882 play with new immediacy and contemporary commentary. We’re destroying the earth! Bureaucracy will kill us all! Everyone is corrupt! Resistance is futile! It all works fairly […]