Set in 1986 at an elite Ghanaian girls boarding school, Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play is steeped in Queen Bee pettiness and teenage politics. An Obsidian Theatre production in association with Nightwood Theatre, Director Nina Lee Aquino masterfully delves into the complexities of teenage female relationships, brought to life by […]
Pyretic Productions and Punctuate! Theatre’s most recent show, Blood of our Soil, packs a punch. Onstage in the Tarragon Theatre Extra Space, playwright and star Lianna Makuch brings the audience into her world and personal/familial tribulations. I have become a little wary of all-about-me one-actor shows. Everyone has interesting and fraught personal stories, and it […]
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 […]
Sunday’s night’s season nine finale was the final episode of Shameless starring Emmy Rossum. Fiona’s open-ended exit leaves room for a return- for a holiday episode a few seasons away, maybe even a longer arc if the show runs long enough without her (Cameron Monaghan will be rejoining the cast for season ten after taking […]
It’s very easy to understand how Jersey Boys has been such a big hit with audiences around the world. Combining the feel-good hits of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons with the lively story of how it all came together, the show really puts other jukebox musicals to shame. Now in its 13th touring season, […]
Awkward silences are your fault. They’re their fault too. A group – or an entire pair – with expired imaginations aching to pretend to be someones with something to say. If you could all shut up for a moment you might enjoy the thought that you’re in a Pinter piece where silence is not an […]
Toronto has a complicated relationship with the wildlife that we share our urban terrain with in 2019. To many, maybe most, these animals are pests. They break into our attics and build nests. They poop on our balconies, decks, and heads. They rummage through our garbage leaving a mess in their wake. The pigeons, the […]
A periodic cry, almost a scream, penetrated the performance space as the audience arrived and settled into their seats. It was unsettling, but mostly ignored. Choreographer Daina Ashbee’s Pour– presented by TO Live in association with Native Earth Performing Arts and The Theatre Centre- seemed to begin when a figure (dancer/interpreter Paige Culley) began pacing across the front of the stage, still […]