I left Ajax – the play at Summerworks, not the place – hardly able to speak, let alone know what to think or feel. The play aims at shocking audiences by providing them with a raw kind of truth that so often does not accompany discussions on sexuality and violence. It attempts to hold up a […]
“I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?” -Benedick to Beatrice (IV.i) The 2012 Stratford season isn’t very good. 80% of the reason I say that is Much Ado About Nothing. There are places to improve Henry V, Charlie Brown, The Matchmaker and so much else, but they […]
Present Laughter isn’t particularly remarkable. It’s a pretty standard Shaw production despite being written by Noel Coward and not George Bernard Shaw (who only wrote two plays slated for the 2012 season, actually). The costumes are pretty, the set is impressive if not interesting and everybody has British accents. Shaw’s Festival Theatre is a typical proscenium arch- […]
In a season where Stratford is struggling a bit, I haven’t seen a bad Shaw production yet. Ragtime is Fantastic (more on that later) and His Girl Friday is pretty good (again, more to come) but it’s French Without Tears that surprised me the most. I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into at […]
TORONTO – On July 24th, Piers Handling, CEO and Director of TIFF (the Toronto International Film Festival), and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, unveiled some of the films that will headline the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. According to Bailey, TIFF 2012 will include the “most diverse Gala programme to date with films from Japan, China, […]
“Even if I have to dig ditches for the rest of my life, I’ll be a ditch digger who once had a wonderful day” – Cornelius Hackl, the brightly optimistic heart of Stratford’s uneven but partly adorable oldschool comedy. I was highly skeptical of The Matchmaker, knowing that it would be even more dated […]
Next year, The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is getting a new Artistic Director. Antoni Cimolino isn’t actually all that new, he’s been with the festival for decades (remember when he played Romeo to Megan Follows’ Juliet?) and is currently its General Manager. But his promotion means a lot for where the festival is going. And, predictably, […]
This was a tough Fringe. On one hand, I did a terrible job of getting out to shows, only seeing 9 in total (plus whatever I take in at Best of Fringe). On the other hand, part of the reason I was so unenthused about long days of Fringing was that I wasn’t impressed with […]