I don’t remember the last time I saw a Mirvish production that really wowed me. The Toronto titans of entertainment are known for big budget musicals and star-powered productions, but it seems like lately their light just isn’t as bright as it was in the pre-Sars heyday of The Lion King and Mamma Mia. The […]

 

or Sir John Falstaff, pt. 3 Let me start off by saying this: I have nothing to say about the text of this play. I refuse to get involved in that. I could probably spend this entire article writing about how little I actually like Merry Wives, or how disappointed I am in William for […]

The newest play from Canada’s beloved playwright Hannah Moscovitch is a stirring and inspiring drama about groundbreaking Polish/Jewish educator Janusz Korczak, set in Warsaw in pre-ghetto 1939 (Act I) and oppressive and war-torn 1942 (Act II). Against Camellia Koo’s innovative set of destructible paper orphanage walls and directed with sublime understanding by Alisa Palmer, Moscovitch’s […]

Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann
 

Adam Pettle and Brenda Robins’ 2009 adaptation of Miklos Laszlo’s 1937 Hungarian comedy Parfumerie, about the behind the scenes lives of employees at a beauty supply store, is not something you would assume would be a hit. But it is. Most performances of the Dora-winning remount have already sold out and a discerning friend of […]

 

I went to University in Boston. Don’t ask me why but I had it in my head that I had to leave home after highschool, live in another city (another country, as it turned out), get some space from the town where my parents live, where I’d spent all of highschool and lived since I […]

Behind-the-Scenes with Richard & Hosanna

Canadian theatre icon Seana McKenna’s take on the title villain in Richard III was one of the star attractions of The Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s 2011 season; Gareth Potter’s ballsy (forgive the pun) and brash turn as disillusioned drag queen Hosanna in Michel Tremblay’s heartwrenching play of the same name was a personal highlight. Their physical […]

Author and Ford-critic Margaret Atwood and Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page as Cannon Dolls; Mayor Rob Ford stuck in the middle.
 

Toronto’s mayor is a Mr. Dursley-esque grump face with a popularity rate so low in the heart of the city that I’ve literally never met one of his supporters. They like him in the suburbs I guess, or so the electoral map suggested, but down where we use the TTC and go to the theatre […]

 

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is gearing up for their 60th Anniversary, recently posting the promotional photos for the 14 productions in their 2012 season. Head to www.stratfordfestival.ca for details on the upcoming shows. 42nd Street A Word or Two The Best Brothers Cymbeline Elektra Henry V Hirsch MacHomer The Matchmaker Much Ado About Nothing The […]