Understudying was always one of the hardest jobs in theatre but in 2022 it’s taken on a whole new meaning. Gone are the days when an actor might learn a role only to see the entire run go by without performing it. In the first full season back for many of Canada’s biggest theatre companies […]
Kelly Bedard
I love the concept behind Soulpepper’s bold Lear Family Double Bill that pairs a very solid production of Shakespeare’s King Lear with a new play by Erin Shields that imagines what might have happened seven years earlier to inform the behaviour of the characters in King Lear. Shields’ play Queen Goneril focuses not just on […]
Kelly Bedard
We’ve been waiting for this one. The young Shakespeare enthusiasts who came up watching Slings & Arrows only to graduate into a decade of shy Shakespeare from the festival we were indoctrinated to adore, this is the production we’ve been waiting for. We wanted new blood, we wanted new ideas, we wanted someone under the […]
Kelly Bedard
The landing page for all of our Shaw & Stratford Festival reviews from the 2022 season. Stay tuned as this page will update throughout the summer.
Alexander Franks
Content warning: This piece contains mentions of emotional/psychological manipulation, trauma, and suicide…
Kelly Bedard
These are crazy times and we’ve all taken on a bunch of new projects as we socially isolate in order to help stop the spread of Covid-19. We’re donating where we can, we’re cleaning the pantry, we’re organizing the 2300+ title dvd library. We finished work on the Nominee Interview Series even though the live event for […]
Kelly Bedard
With the help of some of the best and brightest Shakespeare fans in the world, we’re diving deep into 38 plays in 35 episodes (Henrys IV & VI only get one episode a piece; sorry, Bill). In every episode of The Shakespeare Series, I’ll be joined by a different guest (or guests) to discuss a different play in the […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2019 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards…
Kelly Bedard
With the help of some of the best and brightest Shakespeare fans in the world, we’re diving deep into 38 plays in 35 episodes (Henrys IV & VI only get one episode a piece; sorry, Bill). In every episode of The Shakespeare Series, I’ll be joined by a different guest (or guests) to discuss a different play in the […]
Duncan Derry
Before we announce the winners of the 2019 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Originally from Calgary, Felix Beauchamp is a bilingual performer who has worked in both English and French across Canada both onstage and on film. His work extends into clown work and music as well: he’s a […]
Kelly Bedard
Before we announce the winners of the 2019 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present…
Mark Kreder
A few days before going to see Shakespeare BASH’d’s production of Cymbeline, an article title flashed before my eyes as I scrolled through my Facebook feed, “Can Shakespeare still surprise?” Coincidentally, the post had come from Shakespeare BASH’d’s Facebook page, and as I was just about to watch the show, I chose to bypass the […]
Kelly Bedard
Before we announce the winners of the 2019 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Catherine Rainville is a multi-hyphenate artist whose work performing, directing, producing and designing for site-specific indie favourites Shakespeare Bash’d has never failed to thrill and surprise us. She’s nominated this year for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a […]
Dom Harvey
Julius Caesar is a tragedy for the masses. For the uninitiated, many Shakespearean tragedies are at least somewhat familiar because his work has transcended every cultural boundary: of course you know of Romeo and Juliet even if you don’t know obscure 16th century Italian poetry – or Romeo and Juliet. Others that haven’t installed themselves […]
If it’s hard to convince new audiences to give Shakespeare a chance, why not take it to them? Shakespeare-In-Hospitals goes to “traditional and non-traditional theatre spaces” with traditional and non-traditional stories – this season’s work is an ambitious blend of Shakespeare extracts, poetry, and original content dealing with tricky themes of family, memory, and loss. […]
Mark Kreder
There is something quite delightful about walking into a bar, grabbing a beverage and settling in to watch a show. If you are familiar with this feeling, odds are you have seen a few Shakespeare BASH’d shows in your day. Their take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream begins the way any good show should- with […]
With the help of some of the best and brightest Shakespeare fans in the world, we’re diving deep into 38 plays in 35 episodes (Henrys IV & VI only get one episode a piece; sorry, Bill). In every episode of The Shakespeare Series, I’ll be joined by a different guest (or guests) to discuss a different play in the […]
With the help of some of the best and brightest Shakespeare fans in the world…
Shakespeare earned the right to phone it in. It was clear that even his less daring and promising works would be feted beyond their merits – anything bearing his name would get the benefit of the doubt when the same script by a lesser or less famous playwright would be passed over. More generously, any […]
This, its 30th year of existence, was my first Bard on the Beach season…
Spaghetti Western is a popular approach for Shakespeare’s most controversial comedy (in fact this production…
Kelly Bedard
Drama is where the Stratford Festival tends to swing for the fences, doubling down on heavy hitting actors playing incredible tragedy on big stages through brutal runtimes. A sampling of the dramatic plays in the 2019 Stratford season reveals some of the festival’s greatest strengths even as the drama gets harder and harder to witness. […]
Kelly Bedard
After I saw Brigadoon, the Shaw Festival’s magical staging of a reimagined classic musical, I right away sat down to write about the experience. At least for me, the night I saw it, the mood I was in, Brigadoon was a fully contained theatrical moment about which I had plenty to say. Another staff writer […]
Kelly Bedard
The Merry Wives of Windsor is an obtrusively fat play in many senses. With about 472 disparate characters and plot threads, it’s in desperate need of trimming. It also packs in more fat jokes than a fratty comic on twitter. It’s a gruesome, empty bit of silliness redeemable only by its surprisingly wily female characters […]
Kelly Bedard
With the help of some of the best and brightest Shakespeare fans in the world, we’re diving deep into 38 plays in 35 episodes (Henrys IV & VI only get one episode a piece; sorry, Bill). In every episode of The Shakespeare Series, I’ll be joined by a different guest (or guests) to discuss a different play in the […]
Kelly Bedard
Before we announce the winners of the 2018 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Frank Cox-O’Connell is a multi-hyphenate theatre artist who came up through the Soulpepper Academy and has gone on to help create some of the most interesting work in the last decade of Toronto theatre. He’s […]