In the Louisiana bayou, cut off from the rest of the world, a small free-spirited community has settled down. In this water-sunken place (or, as the locals refer to it, “the bathtub”) the poverty is surreal, yet no one seems to mind. Seen through the eyes of 6-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) it is “The most […]
Who knew Greeks can make great cinema? A country famous for its extra virgin olive oil export and hardly any traditions or structure for filmmaking, stunned audiences around the globe with the art-house sensation Dogtooth. Giorgos (Yorgos) Lanthimos’ equally disturbing and comical crafty feature swept the Prix Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes in […]
Tarragon’s current Extra Space offering is a sure-thing. They’re a Canadian playwright’s theatre and Hannah Moscovitch is a wonderfully talented, totally accessible, widely produced, generally beloved Canadian playwright who just happens to be Tarragon’s current playwright-in-residence, so a double bill of her newest one-acts is not only a smart decision artistically, it’s one perfectly in-brand […]
The first thing you need to know about my relationship with Martin Sherman’s astounding play Bent is that it was one of the last things I saw performed before I created My Theatre (then a standalone website, now a branch of this one). In June 2009 I saw a truly brilliant production at Ryerson’s Abrams […]
Two of the best productions currently running on Toronto stages share the unique bond of being ballsy enough to tell a beloved play’s story from a different angle. A practice that’s inescapably commonplace on television and often even in film and literature, the spinoff is far from a regular occurrence in theatre. The most famous […]
The Fault In Our Stars is a book that goes exactly how you expect it to, and yet breaks your heart in ways you never could have guessed. In that way, it’s a lot like life. These are the kind of deep-but-not-really-but-also-kind-of sentiments the book makes you have. John Green’s highly publicized novel tells […]
Teddy Wayne’s latest novel, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine, is about 11-year-old tween pop star, Jonny Valentine, and the circus that is his life. In the book, Jonny relates a few months of his second tour, sparing us nothing—the media hoopla, his infinitely complicated relationship with is mother-manager, daily tour business, his search for […]
I am not the person to talk about Necessary Angel’s current production of 4.48 Psychosis. Abstract, poetry-driven contemporary theatre is not my cup of tea to begin with, but more than anything I say I’m not the person for this task because 4.48 Psychosis is a deeply personal piece about a woman whom I never […]