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My favourite Stratford production so far* this year is undoubtedly The Diviners, Verne Thiessen & Yvette Nolan’s grand adaptation of Margaret Laurence’s novel of the same name.   Staged with beautiful fluidity by Krista Jackson with Geneviève Pelletier, the production contains some of the season’s grandest celebration and its quietest tenderness. The great Irene Poole […]

For the past few seasons, my favourite programming at the Shaw Festival has been Outdoors at the Shaw, a somewhat informal series of concerts and variety shows the bulk out the mainstage programming. These performances would take place across the festival grounds, at the outdoor BMO stage, and, starting last season, at the fun and […]

The Shaw Festival’s mainstage programming this year runs the full gamut from the best in the biz to completely disappointing.   At the top of the heap, the most reliable man in Canadian Theatre- Crow’s Theatre artistic director Chris Abraham- takes on the ridiculous farce of One Man, Two Guvnors. It’s a nonsense script full […]

Casting is everything in Bowtie Productions’ ambitious stab at John Cameron Mitchell’s iconic rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. It’s a deceptively difficult piece, the smallness of its two-actor/one-act structure placing immense pressure on the performers who have to carry exceptionally dense material with relentless energy and barely a few moments, if any, offstage. […]

The Unexpected End to Life by You
 

Since its initial announcement in March 2023, Life by You captivated the interest of fans of the life simulation genre. Promising an eventual end to the seemingly endless reign of The Sims franchise, the game was an ambitious undertaking that made plenty of promises that had the gaming community waiting with bated breath.   Unfortunately, […]

Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque has just about the best programming strategy I’ve seen for a small company, especially one serving a remote community without a ton of access to live theatre. Managing Artistic Director Brett Christopher smartly programs all the big fun musicals you’d expect, crowd-pleasers that never fail to slap (this season has […]

 

In the last few decades, the gaming landscape has evolved significantly. Many older gamers will fondly remember the days of 8-bit gaming. Here, painstakingly hand-drawn sprites were created, and the gaming action took place in rather basic environments with low-fidelity soundscapes.   Today, modern gamers can experience a wide range of titles that thrust them […]

Coming off of last year’s superb 4-0 record for their Shakespeare work, Stratford’s 2024 season is quite a bit shakier. There are only three Shakespeare plays on the docket this year and it’s clear that they’re where the company is hoping to spare a few dollars on design as they all feature far less in […]