Kelly Bedard

Though indie theatre is still scrambling to exist, Toronto’s mid-tier theatre scene finally feels well and truly alive again. This April was the first time since early 2020 that there were so many openings that critics had to pick and choose and I’m thrilled to report that I haven’t seen a bad thing all season. […]

There is a joke once seen on tumblr that describes different nationalities’ approaches to death in stories. American writers write I WILL DIE FOR LOVE! British writers write I WILL DIE FOR COUNTRY! And Russian writers write I WILL JUST DIE! An overly simplistic take but this critic’s first thought when seeing that joke was […]

Before we announce the winners of the 2019 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards…

  Steve Fisher

Two shows that had smaller stage runs when they first debuted are back in Toronto, with more room to breathe. At Factory Theatre, Bears is back, after a far too brief run (just ten shows) at the Theatre Centre last spring. Created out west by Aboriginal Performing Arts and Punctuate! Theatre (whose Matthew MacKenzie both […]

  Kelly Bedard

Before we announce the winners of the 2017 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Carrie: the musical is, to be completely honest, not a great musical. And Richard Ouzounian’s production at Hart House theatre was, to be completely honest, not a great production. But Outstanding Performance in a Musical nominee […]

  Kelly Bedard

Toronto theatre is navigating tricky times by making great art this winter. It’s a boom of full-throttle theatre-making, reflected most acutely in midsized-to-large companies taking on the sort of challenging, headline-making contemporary work that brings people to the theatre and inspires them to come back. It’s not all great, but it is all ambitious and […]

  Kelly Bedard

Before we announce the winners of the 2017 MyEntWorld Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Anyone who sees a lot of Toronto theatre is familiar with the tiny spitfire superfan known as Barbara Fingerote. She’s a theatre expert who sees hundreds of shows a year. In the past few years, Barbara […]

  Kelly Bedard

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Hart House Theatre) The saga of Hart House musicals is full of high highs and low lows as their success fluctuates wildly depending mostly, it seems, on the popularity of their chosen show. They don’t pay their performers so, in order to lure the right talent, they have to offer […]