Anita La Selva has directed some of the best theatre I’ve ever seen- bold, creative, demanding work that left a lasting impact. That fact is the complicating, heartbreaking, contextualizing background to 12 Litres 8800 Steps, her autobiographical solo show currently on stage in the Factory mainspace. The play tells the devastating personal story that, presumably […]
Writer/director Andrew Kushnir’s latest self-referential verbatim project presents his signature style at its complex, emotional best. Docutheatre has a tendency to fall into reporterly coldness as the research-heavy genre often tells stories involving investigations and the dialogue is spoken exactly as originally uttered by the real life characters rather than translated through a playwright’s […]
Théâtre Motus’ Tree is a beautiful introduction to live performance designed for the enjoyment of six-months to three-year-olds with a special eye to accessibility for neurodivergent children. I brought my nine-month-old to the show for his first experience as a live theatre audience member (thanks to Cineplex’s Stars & Strollers program, he’s well versed with the […]
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, to deal with isolation and lack of live theatre, we started gathering some of our favourite people every Tuesday & Saturday night to read scripts over Zoom. We read all 38 Shakespeare plays in six months. Then we kept going. We decided to create mini-seasons featuring highlights from the canons of […]
Shrek the Musical (Young People’s Theatre) Young People’s Theatre’s production of Shrek the Musical is lean, green, and utterly joyful. It’s one of the biggest productions in the company’s 60-year history and that investment pays off with a strong ensemble, William Layton’s vibrant set design, and an overall high standard of production that could easily […]
The trouble with adapting most children’s books is that they are very light on plot. Niagara’s Carousel Players’ two-person production of Where the Wild Things Are (originally adapted for the stage by TAG Theatre in Glasgow) suffers from this problem- it’s only 65 minutes long and still feels like they’re filling for time. What felt […]
Do not stop. Just go to see Laura Piccinin’s production of GO, a hike full of heart, comedy, and charm Full disclosure, I do not hike. As a city boy, my version of hiking is walking from Regent Park to Parkdale. However, even I can understand the appeal of hiking. The nature, the views, […]
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, to deal with isolation and lack of live theatre, we started gathering some of our favourite people every Tuesday & Saturday night to read scripts over Zoom. We read all 38 Shakespeare plays in six months. Then we kept going. We decided to create mini-seasons featuring highlights from the canons of […]