Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. The multi-talented Leighton Alexander Williams also wrote and directed BDB Productions’ Judas Noir, an adaptation of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ play The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. It was his mesmerizing performance as Satan that earned him […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Exploring the distance between what appears to be true and what actually is, Dancing at Lughnasa is a bittersweet memory play about five sisters in depression-era Donegal.  Set in 1936, when Michael is just seven years old, the play juxtaposes Michael’s overwhelmingly positive memories of the last summer his family spent together with his adult self’s reflection […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Adapted and directed by Leighton Alexander Williams, BDB Productions’ Judas Noir…

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Generally Hospital (A) Proving that humour can be found even in the most serious of places, Generally Hospital is a themed sketch comedy revue on the subject of hospitals. A set of exceptionally funny sketches are artfully brought together by director Leigh Cameron to […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews How to be FEARLESS! (with Roxy Roberts) (A) Fed up with being harassed, stalked, and threatened, Roxy Roberts (Playwright/Performer Ali Joy Richardson) leads an unorthodox seminar on how to defend yourself and live without fear in this hilarious site-specific show about a motivational speaker. […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Robert. (A-) Produced by Lark & Whimsy Collective, playwright Briana Brown’s tragicomedy about family, identity, and loss depicts the full range of human experience. Janelle Hanna and Chris Baker play not quite estranged siblings, Kat and James, who reunite in a hospice while waiting […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Billed as “music theatre”, Njo Kong Kie’s first production in his residency with Canadian Stage is more of a concert with multimedia aspects than it is a piece of theatre. Inspired by his experiences picnicking in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, composer-pianist Njo Kong Kie cleverly uses this juxtaposition of life and death to create music that […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

On April 16th, 350 artists, arts administrators, arts critics, and arts everything else gathered at The Great Hall in Toronto to celebrate another year of creativity, ambition, talent, and hard work as we looked back on the productions that defined 2017 in Toronto Theatre. With help from sponsors like Dufflet Pastries and our generous patrons […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Before we announce the winners of the 2017 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. National Ballet of Canada First Soloist Jordana Daumec is a strong technician and a subtle, affecting actress. She has charmed audiences with her performances in featured roles that include Young Shepherdess in The Winter’s Tale and […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Before we announce the winners of the 2017 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Principal Dancer Piotr Stancyzk’s strong features have made him a popular casting choice for some of the National Ballet of Canada’s darker roles, including Stanley (in A Streetcar Named Desire) and Eugene Onegin, but it’s his strong […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Before we announce the winners of the 2017 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series…

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Victor Hugo’s nineteenth century classic about Jean Valjean, a man who steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving family, spends nineteen years in prison, and begins a new life under an assumed identity where he seeks to do good, has been adapted into multiple feature films, a Japanese animated series, and most notably, […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

In 28 years with the National Ballet of Canada, Principal Dancer Sonia Rodriguez has left lasting impressions on audiences and showcased her versatility through roles  that range from the titular Sleeping Beauty to contemporary works like Wayne McGregor’s Chroma. A gifted actress who excels in character-driven roles, Sonia earned an Outstanding Ballet Performance nomination in the “Leading” category for […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Homewrecker, a new two-hander play by Daniel Pagett, raises questions about who is to blame for the end of a marriage; Is it the husband who cheated, the other woman who knows he is married and sleeps with him anyway, or some combination of the two? Recently divorced Craig (Blue Bigwood-Mallin) lures Veronica (Susannah Mackay), […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Before we announce the winners of the 2017 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Mia Raye Smith made her Toronto Fringe Festival debut with I Am Hope, a humourous and heartwarming one-woman show about living with an anxiety disorder. Skillfully portraying 19 different characters, including her grandmother and therapist, Mia […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Before we announce the winners of the 2017 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. A thought-provoking play that challenged perceptions of race, disability, and social class, Grey was a highlight of the 2017 Toronto Fringe Festival. Grey‘s minimal costumes and props and its stark set highlighted the considerable strengths of […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Before we announce the winners of the 2017 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. As the quiet-spoken, but passionate, Arab scholar Khalid in Theatre by Committee’s Omnium Gatherum, Basel Daoud made quite an impression, delivering a performance that was both powerful and moving. Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor, the warm […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Before we announce the winners of the 2017 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. As the hostess of a surreal dinner party in Theatre by Committee’s Omnium Gatherum, Shalyn McFaul gave a standout performance that earned her an Outstanding Actress nomination. Charming and witty, Shalyn expertly balanced her character Suzie’s […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Beginning and ending with the last performance of Vaslav Nijinsky, widely considered one of the greatest dancers of the twentieth century, choreographer John Neumeier’s “biography of the soul” is a contemporary ballet masterpiece. Nijinsky draws its audience in from the beginning. There is no reminder to turn off your cell phone, no dimming of the […]

Featuring vivid characters and a dramatic story of jealousy, love, and redemption, The National Ballet of Canada’s adaptation of The Winter’s Tale is a beautifully choreographed, magical ballet that absolutely everyone should see at least once. Like the Shakespeare play on which it is based, the ballet opens with Polixenes, King of Bohemia, visiting his […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Dublin Carol is not your usual Christmas tale. Presented by Fly on the Wall Theatre, this brutally honest and bleak play is set over a single day – Christmas Eve – in the life of John Plunkett, an alcoholic Dublin undertaker. His lonely existence of booze and burials is tempered only by small moments of […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

In Small but Mighty Productions’ eighties-inspired musical cabaret, six criminal misfits with superhuman abilities are sent to Villains Boot Camp, a secret project that aims to reform criminals and make them productive members of society. Isolated on an unknown island, they’re fed on a strict diet of healthy smoothies and forced to adhere to a […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Director Ravi Jain’s adaptation of Salt-Water Moon distills the classic Canadian play by David French to its essence: two lovers under a star-filled sky. The story centers on the return of Jacob Mercer to Coley’s Point, Newfoundland after his abrupt departure for Toronto a year earlier. Although his old flame Mary Snow is now engaged […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

According to old rules of etiquette, it’s impolite to discuss sex, politics, or religion at a dinner party. Theatre by Committee’s Omnium Gatherum tackles all three with gusto, throwing in privilege and culture for good measure! Believing that lively conversation is at the heart of any great dinner party, Domestic Goddess Suzie gathers an assortment […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Snap! (A-) I don’t know what I expected from Snap! but it wasn’t to be so charmed by this quirky site-specific show about four ordinary people attending a mandatory anger management programme. Led by Wanda, a facilitator leading her first session, the reluctant attendees […]

  Chelsea Dinsmore

Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Pillow Talk (B+) Admittedly my experience with sketch comedy is limited, but I really enjoyed this original show created by Adam Martignetti and sketch comedy duo The O.C. (Charlotte Cattell and Olivia Brodie-Dinsdale) about three people who just can’t get it right. All Second […]