Second City’s 82nd and current Mainstage revue, Walking On Bombshells, opens on a stage that’s a convincing mock-up of the dingy Osgoode subway station. It’s the backdrop for the show’s opening musical number, a ditty about the perils of subway travel entitled “Is It Warm or Is It Wet?” That specificity is unusual for the Mainstage […]
Theatre company Shakespeare BASH’d “is an actor initiative that… produces Shakespeare’s plays in social settings”, “with simple staging, clear and sympathetic language, and an emphasis on the text and actors telling the story”. (This is all cribbed from their program.) They stage their work in pubs and bars, in the round, and have progressively gotten […]
In all of the subway posters and other promotional material around the city, the producers of Four Chords and a Gun have placed this description front and centre: “A Play Followed By A Concert.” Which seems like a very odd presentation format, until you read the smaller disclaimer on the front of the program: “This […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Most theatre artists have to slog for a long while at the start of their professional careers before getting any faint public praise, or even mention of their work. Few would dare hope to be cited […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Ellie Moon’s work as a theatre creator to date has been located at the intersection of feminism and equity, and explored the ramifications of abuse, privilege, and trauma. Her Outstanding New Play-nominated What I Call Her—a searing living […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Theatre artist and educator Janelle Hanna is well known to Toronto Fringe audiences, where she’s appeared in a half dozen shows, including her own subversive solo clown show, Bad Baby Presents: Rules Control The Fun. But her turn […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Jani Lauzon has for more than three decades cultivated a career in storytelling that utilizes myriad artistic practices and disciplines. She’s been an actor on stage (from Stratford to the National Arts Centre) and on screen […]
Two shows that had smaller stage runs when they first debuted are back in Toronto, with more room to breathe. At Factory Theatre, Bears is back, after a far too brief run (just ten shows) at the Theatre Centre last spring. Created out west by Aboriginal Performing Arts and Punctuate! Theatre (whose Matthew MacKenzie both […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual …
Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. An alumna of Theatre Sheridan’s joint drama program with University of Toronto, and more recently of Nightwood Theatre’s Young Innovator Unit, Lauren Wolanski elevated Theatre Born Between’s remount of Rosamund Small’s Vitals with her grounded, nuanced performance […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. A veteran actor, cabaret performer, and singer for more than thirty-five years, Paula Wolfson has a Dora for her role in Shaking the Foundations, and was in the first Canadian tours of Les Miserables and Beauty […]
Be sure to check out our full list of Next Stage reviews. A Bear Awake in Winter Bullying as a topic in theatre, especially for young people, has been ascendent for the past few years. But it’s rarely examined with such nuance and even-handedness (and humour, even) as in Ali Joy Richardson’s script here. Richardson’s […]
The Philosopher’s Wife, the first part of Paradigm Productions’ epic Empire Trilogy, has a “soft” opening scene in its current staging at the AKI Studio Theatre. Playwright Susanna Fournier introduces the show, taking down the robe of The Philosopher, which has been hanging at the centre of the round stage. She explains that, due to […]
This can be a difficult time of year for people. The pressures of holiday shopping, the long days without much sunlight, work and family obligations, all conspire to ratchet up the pressure, especially for those who suffer from anxiety and depression. So it’s heartening to see Canadian Stage programming a show about depression that’s ultimately […]
From the shadows at the back of the theatre, a haggard looking man appears. He’s running, breathing hard, and as he approaches us, we see his eyes are wide with confusion and fear. “Why can’t I remember what’s happened to me?”, he cries aloud. So begins The Runner, Christopher Morris’ harrowing and gripping new play, staged […]