Artistic Director Tim Carroll programmed the 2018 Shaw season with a throughline of war stories, mostly World War I stories. The theme is so pervasive that it seems to divide the season pretty much down the middle, so that’s how I’ve decided to group the plays together for review- War & Peace. Read about life […]

 

Echo Productions has uncanny timing. Their show Charlie: Son of Man, a narrative about Charlie Manson, debuted weeks after Charlie Manson’s death. And now Echo & Narcissus, a retelling of the ancient myth with a focus on gender, has debuted in the midst of the Doug Ford government pushing sex education into the dark ages. […]

 

Despite growing connectivity and the ever-expanding access to information, activism has arguably become a largely symbolic, lazy activity devoid of lasting impact. Occupy Wall Street caused a ruckus for a few months and slowly died away, leaving the large financial institutions at the center of the debate untouched. Women marched in pink hats but Donald […]

 

Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews Café Sarajevo episode 1 (A+) A surprising diversion from the usual SummerWorks lineup, Café Sarajevo is a live SummerWorks LAB podcast discussing the nature of humanity, the implacable human spirit, the importance of language and the heartbreaking struggles of war. Inspired by a famous […]

 

Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews Third World (B+) & ZAYO (A) Movement and stories of obstacles overcome merge in these two fascinating, viscerally performed dance pieces. dancer FLY LADY DI opens Third World with a brief, funny and insightful summary of her relationship to dance as a discipline. What […]

 

There’s some pretty stellar comedy to be found in Toronto this summer and it’d be a shame to let it go undiscussed in the craziness of festival season. So, while I hate to combine sketch & improv into one article (and be scolded for it by comedians- I Know They’re Very Different!), here’s a roundup […]

 

Be sure to check out our Full List of SummerWorks Reviews   … And You’ll Never Believe What Happens Next (A) The sneaky dissonance of this latest storytelling show from Pressgang Theatre’s Graham Isador adds an intriguing layer of unspoken complication to an already rich and rewarding hour. Demonstrating once again his uncanny knack for […]

Vince Gatton’s Alexandria is this year’s winner of the Sanguine Theatre Company’s Project Playwright. Alexandria was selected from over 430 submissions and turned into a fully produced play in New York. It did not disappoint. Alexandria is the third play I’ve seen produced through Project Playwright and I commend Sanguine’s innovative program and the effort […]