So, we here at My Theater have been to a few Happy Medium Productions at this point. Personally, this is my first introduction to their work, and I have mixed feelings. The Revenants is a surprisingly witty, often very funny show about two couples during the Zombie Apocalypse forced to decide at which point their […]

Equal parts tragedy and comedy with a tinge of history, Alumnae Theatre’s season opener is a real visual treat.  Audience members are aptly greeted by a tall pyramid structure positioned centre stage which I – for better or worse – immediately deemed the “tower of Babylon.”  Contained within are many of the props which actors […]

I’ve always liked to believe you can tell a fine play by its title.  In this case, playwright Jordi Mand has ingeniously chosen a seemingly ordinary one which, in actuality, alludes to the electrifying secret that propels the story forward in this head-to-head dispute between Marion (Susan Coyne) and Teresa (Christine Horne) about what really […]

Two weeks after the PQ was elected as Quebec’s minority government- causing concern of renewed interest in nationalist policies- the time could not be more right for a project fusing our country’s strong English playwriting tradition with the electroacoustic music Quebec is renowned for.  Montreal-based composer Louis Dufort and Toronto-based writer Tom Walmsley were both […]

 

Stratford’s new musical commission is nothing short of delightful. As I expected. Robert Service (whose poems form the lyrics and whose story loosely inspired the piece) is a Canadian treasure, both populist and prolific, leaving us with the legendary Cremation of Sam McGee among so many others. Beloved director Morris Panych conceived the musical and […]

 

Hirsch is the studio production thrown into the Stratford 2012 season at the last minute. It doesn’t really belong in a tangible way, but it’s about an eccentric former Artistic Director, so why not? Alon Nashman is great as John Hirsch- an inarguably fascinating figure in Canadian theatre and the world at large- and I […]

 

The Summerworks Festival is my one big regret of the summer, theatre-wise. After a disappointing Fringe, I was really looking forward to the juried, uniquely Torontonian festival. The lineup looked pretty good and I had my press pass all lined up but I simply dropped the ball. I saw only 6 productions over the course […]

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 […]