CanStage’s The Other Place is difficult to write about without giving too much away. For the play is reveal after reveal, as we move back and forward in time, uncovering family secrets, buried memories, and emotional turmoil. And yet, as we move down the winding road of this dense, emotional bit of realism, I was […]
A Steady Rain (Paper Moon Productions) This intimate cop drama presented by Paper Moon Productions in the tiny room on Queen East known as The Grocery tells an action-packed story but does so all in past tense. Anthony Parise and John Palmieri play a pair of childhood best friends turned partners, a complex odd-couple dynamic […]
2014-15 are the years that math and science became incredibly cool in popular culture and a staple of popular entertainment. Two of the hottest Oscar contenders for Best Picture this year chronicle the lives of Stephen Hawking and Alan Turing. The cast of The Big Bang Theory is reaping considerable financial rewards for their television […]
A Side of Dreams is a beautiful view into Metis cultural traditions of generational and ancestral healing. The evening begins with a wondrous and effective projection of a spider beginning to spin a web, through a suspended aerial hoop. The initial image and soundscape prepare the audience for the intimate and thoughtful performance to come. […]
Two major Toronto companies are telling cancer stories right now. Nightwood’s HER2 is an ensemble of women participating in a drug trial to treat a deadly form of breast cancer known as HER2. Collecting the 7 women in a single treatment room over the course of many weeks, playwright Maja Ardal’s story looks at the […]
One dysfunctional family. A murder that no one talks about. A small, black box containing the biggest secret of all. Brian Watkins’ new play Wyoming, currently playing at the Theatre for a New City, explores concepts and themes of love and loss that are inherently unremarkable, but that are weaved together beautifully to create a […]
The Broadway comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, written by Christopher Durang and directed by Jessica Stone (based on the original Broadway direction of Nicholas Martin) is a fun modern romp peppered with Chekhov references and further seasoned with tomfoolery and nostalgia. Two siblings, Vanya (Martin Moran) and the adopted Sonia (Marcia […]
Read Thea’s Reviews and Lorenzo’s Reviews of the NSTF. Graham Clark Reads the Phonebook I loved comedian Graham Clark’s solo show at last summer’s Fringe Festival. So did everyone else, including Fringe head honcho Lucy Eveleigh. So Lucy invited him back for the Next Stage Festival. This, in theory, makes sense (especially considering they have […]