Self-assured though with no emotional investment, Phillip Ridley’s Karagula is messy, tame sci-fi. Despite deft touches on the production side (read: design), the work never clinches the operatic status it desires. On another planet, a milkshake-drinking society that habitually sacrifices its Prom King and Queen is in crisis; intercut with this we see (unclear where […]
What we learn of the Romani is limited but what is limited in the LIFT Festival’s Open For Everything is probed deeply in dance rather than storytelling, a bracing experience when done well. Constanza Macras’ dance company has made a piece that celebrates and explains the ‘last nomadic tribe in Europe’, the Romani. While light […]
Toronto has some killer young actresses, a few of whom have found particularly big showcases in small productions currently on Toronto stages. Below are a few of note, in order of impact. Changeling; A Grand Guignol for Muderous Times (Desiderata Theatre Co.) There’s a lot to like about Harrison Thomas’ brutal and inventive production […]
In a world where cancer and AIDS have been cured, what could possibly go wrong? This is a question addressed in the emotionally wrenching performance of Rapture at the Etcetera Theatre directed and written by Lisa McMullin. Set far into the 21st century, it is a dystopian tale of four people being audited by the government. […]
Two half sisters, an ocean and a world away, give birth to two completely different dynasties. Homegoing follows these families through interwoven tales of love, heartbreak, classism, racism and the struggle of identity, giving us snippets of lives that are at once beautiful in their complexity and unflinchingly real. Effia, known as the beauty, marries […]
Like the sycophantic hotel clerk who opens the play, Off The King’s Road is too eager to please. Neil Koenigsberg’s new work wavers between the sincere and mawkish, never quite landing its desired emotional beats in spite of a capable cast. American widower Matt Browne (Michael Brandon) takes a cultural trip to London to get […]
In a world filled with countless responsibilities and demands on my time, I have grown incredibly fond of short forms of…
This is a story about honor. A man marries a woman from a powerful family. That man’s wealth and status rise significantly as a result, and places him among a different bracket of rivals, rivals with just as much power if not more. He tries to live a good and true life, but in the […]