It is not that often we get to see realism on stage anymore. Even more rare: three hour productions. Do people even have that sort of attention span these days? Lucky thing for intermissions. At least in opera you have the chance of being taken on a musical journey. But this is three hours – […]
Summer for most people is time for pools and barbecues and baseball. And, don’t get me wrong, I both adore and partake in all of those things. But, for me, what makes summer what it is (beyond those iconic Marine Land ads that mark the beginning and end of the season) is theatre. There’s the […]
Tom Stoppard’s absurd Hamlet spinoff is beloved among my particular demographic of friends who are really into Hamlet, Gary Oldman (who starred in the movie version), and wacky British things like Doctor Who. I am not one of these people, I just hang out with lots of these people and find them exhausting. Despite this, […]
Death of a Salesman is exactly the sort of piece that Soulpepper does brilliantly- intimate, personal, actor-driven, and a modern classic. The tight-knit company always fares well with family stories and any time you can cast the first couple of Soulpepper- Joseph Ziegler and Nancy Palk- as the parents at the centre of things, it’s […]
Equal parts tragedy and comedy with a tinge of history, Alumnae Theatre’s season opener is a real visual treat. Audience members are aptly greeted by a tall pyramid structure positioned centre stage which I – for better or worse – immediately deemed the “tower of Babylon.” Contained within are many of the props which actors […]
I’ve always liked to believe you can tell a fine play by its title. In this case, playwright Jordi Mand has ingeniously chosen a seemingly ordinary one which, in actuality, alludes to the electrifying secret that propels the story forward in this head-to-head dispute between Marion (Susan Coyne) and Teresa (Christine Horne) about what really […]
Two weeks after the PQ was elected as Quebec’s minority government- causing concern of renewed interest in nationalist policies- the time could not be more right for a project fusing our country’s strong English playwriting tradition with the electroacoustic music Quebec is renowned for. Montreal-based composer Louis Dufort and Toronto-based writer Tom Walmsley were both […]
The Summerworks Festival is my one big regret of the summer, theatre-wise. After a disappointing Fringe, I was really looking forward to the juried, uniquely Torontonian festival. The lineup looked pretty good and I had my press pass all lined up but I simply dropped the ball. I saw only 6 productions over the course […]