So, we here at My Theater have been to a few Happy Medium Productions at this point. Personally, this is my first introduction to their work, and I have mixed feelings. The Revenants is a surprisingly witty, often very funny show about two couples during the Zombie Apocalypse forced to decide at which point their […]
This is a very weird year in Stratford because most of the really good productions are musicals. North America’s most prominent Shakespeare company usually does fine musicals and great Shakespeare, but Pirates of Penzance and Wanderlust are two of the only highlights of this season (Charlie Brown is good, but not a standout). I was […]
First a story: My dad doesn’t like Charlie Brown; he finds him depressing, and this is an argument we have every December when it’s time to pull out the old tape of Christmas specials. I love Charlie Brown and the whole Peanuts world (especially Lucy!). If I had to pick a Christmas special to call […]
Death of a Salesman is exactly the sort of piece that Soulpepper does brilliantly- intimate, personal, actor-driven, and a modern classic. The tight-knit company always fares well with family stories and any time you can cast the first couple of Soulpepper- Joseph Ziegler and Nancy Palk- as the parents at the centre of things, it’s […]
Equal parts tragedy and comedy with a tinge of history, Alumnae Theatre’s season opener is a real visual treat. Audience members are aptly greeted by a tall pyramid structure positioned centre stage which I – for better or worse – immediately deemed the “tower of Babylon.” Contained within are many of the props which actors […]
I’ve always liked to believe you can tell a fine play by its title. In this case, playwright Jordi Mand has ingeniously chosen a seemingly ordinary one which, in actuality, alludes to the electrifying secret that propels the story forward in this head-to-head dispute between Marion (Susan Coyne) and Teresa (Christine Horne) about what really […]
Cymbeline is the production I’d been waiting to see in Stratford all season. It’s really good Shakespeare. That’s what Stratford does- really good Shakespeare- and I think it’s telling that most of the really good productions this year aren’t that. There are quite a few good musicals, one decent Shakespeare, and one that’s close to […]
Stratford has to have at least one big, impressive, serious classical play a year. 2007- Lear, 2008-Hamlet, 2009-Macbeth, 2010- Tempest, 2011- well, 2011 didn’t have a big tragedy but Twelfth Night was so good and Richard III (in the Tom Patterson) was such a big deal that they made up the difference. In 2012, it’s […]