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 […]
The Shaw Festival’s Hedda Gabler is good but not exceptional, and with a text as brilliant as Ibsen’s that’s not uncommon but always a little disappointing. The legendary Martha Henry’s direction isn’t bold. With fairly conventional character interpretations for the most part and little unexpected in emphasis, she lets the actors and the text do […]
It takes ages for A Man and Some Women to get going. I was sure it was the worst thing I’d seen in a long time- what with its affected accents, stiff corsets, slow pace and lack of energy- but the further into the play I got the more I started to like it. By […]
Before I begin going over the details, I’ll tell you right now: the six-show run of this production was far too short. This was my first Flat Earth play, and if Pillowman is any indication of their work, it will be the first of many. I had high hopes going in, having heard good things […]
While this was my first Happy Medium show, I have heard good things about them. I was hoping for a moving experience, unfortunately there was something missing in this production. I’ll save you the anticipation: the show was poor. What interests me here is why it was such a deeply flawed production. With the resources […]
I left Ajax – the play at Summerworks, not the place – hardly able to speak, let alone know what to think or feel. The play aims at shocking audiences by providing them with a raw kind of truth that so often does not accompany discussions on sexuality and violence. It attempts to hold up a […]
The studio theatre last year was home to some of my favourite Shaw Festival productions. It’s where the festival breaks out of the period mold, drops the accents, and explores a little bit. But it only works if the text being put on is worthy of the creative space, like When the Rain Stops Falling […]
Heads up, the first part of this article will be about Urinetown itself. I’ll tackle the production later on. Don’t take the opinions in the first part as a reflection of my feelings on the generally good Stageworks show. If you want to read only the review, it starts by the production photo so just […]