There are few modern innovations as inspiring as National Theatre Live. Broadcasting high profile stage productions into movie theatres is an astounding arts accessibility measure that knocks hoity toity work right off its pedestal and brings it to actual audiences regardless of their location or disposable income (see also: PBS Great Performances; irreplaceable). It’s downright […]
Jen Silverman’s wild and wonderful take on Brontë-style gothic drama is currently onstage in a riotous new production at the Theatre Centre Incubator. Directed with a bold voice and a light touch by Bryn Kennedy, The Moors is a triumph that dashes expectations at every turn. Silverman’s text is anarchic and inventive while faithfully […]
Last weekend was Toronto’s annual Comicon. I say annual but it’s really bi-annual as FanExpo, the company that runs the event, runs another weekend (appropriately titled “FanExpo”), also at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, that resembles Comicon in nearly every way except that it’s about three times the size (45,000 attendees vs 135,000, roughly). […]
This production has had ample time to mature. It marks director Christopher Alden’s second revival of Rigoletto for the COC (2011, 2018) and the original staging dates back to the Lyric Opera of Chicago (2000). Yet there’s little evidence it has evolved in any major way. It makes no effort to engage with the sociopolitical […]
For even the most dedicated of Shakespeare audiences, Troilus & Cressida is likely the great unknown. A behemoth 3+ hour text with a sprawling cast of characters and an epic, messy story that is literally the stuff of legends- there are lots of reasons why this is one of the canon’s least performed works. Lack […]
The best things at the Shaw Festival seem to, at least for me, always come as a surprise. So I’m shocked but not shocked to tell you that, in 2025, the Shaw show I can’t stop thinking about is Tons of Money. The farce. Of all things. I hate farce but I love Mike […]
I try to review the full Stratford season every year and, with very few exceptions, have done so with great consistency since 2010 (I missed the 2022 late openers and I think a Henry VIII at some point?). This year I’m supposed to be on maternity leave but the thought of missing out completely just […]
I’ve technically put the theatre review side of this site on hiatus while I take maternity leave but the prospect of completely missing out on Toronto Fringe made me too sad so I made myself a one-day sample platter of shows taking place in and around the new festival hub at Soulpepper’s distillery district venue. […]