Of the many “just do the play” attempts at Shakespeare this season on the Stratford mainstage, director John Caird comes closest to presenting an incarnation of true interest. Patrick Clark’s overly pretty design traps the actors and distracts the audience and a few casting missteps drag the affair down but, armed with arguably the most […]
The Unit 102 Theatre at Queen and Dufferin is an interesting space. It is a black box theatre, with the audience on two sides meeting at the downstage right corner, which also functions as an entrance and exit for the actors. It’s small so it can make for a very intimate theatre experience. The main […]
‘Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of the which one must in your allowance o’erweigh a whole theatre of others.’ Act III, Scene II Shakespeare summarises my feelings towards this latest attempt at Hamlet better than any else […]
Driftwood Theatre Group’s Hamlet really works. The Bard’s Bus Tour production- which just finished a short run in Withrow Park before continuing on to 16 more locations over two and a half weeks- is the third Hamlet I’ve seen in six months but it’s only the second Hamlet I’ve found myself wholly invested in. Ever (the […]
Click Here for the Full List of our 2015 Toronto Fringe Reviews All Our Yesterdays (A) Based on the true events of the kidnapping of 276 girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria, Chloé Hung’s new play All Our Yesterdays is a standout. Chiamaka Umeh and Amanda Weise play Hasana and Ladi, two sisters who […]
Click Here for the Full List of our 2015 Toronto Fringe Reviews Hanger (A) Hilary McCormack is a wonderful actress- subtle, emotive, engaging and strong (further evidence of this can be found just one paragraph down). Unfortunately, Hilary McCormack is working in an industry and a time where there is not yet a suitably […]
With so many productions to see (and some of our staffers headed out of town to cover San Diego Comic-Con), we’ve brought on extra help this year to review more Toronto Fringe Festival shows than ever. Over 10 days, 7 critics will be tackling nearly 100 productions. Check out the full list below. The My […]
There’s a reason my precocious 14-year-old cousin Reagan rolls her eyes when I try to tell her about her badass Shakespearean namesake. Shakespeare’s boring, people. It’s dated (in the case of Taming of the Shrew, offensively so) and irrelevant and sort of hard to follow. Why would I go see Hamlet when I can see […]