I try to review the full Stratford season every year and, with very few exceptions, have done so with great consistency since 2010 (I missed the 2022 late openers and I think a Henry VIII at some point?). This year I’m supposed to be on maternity leave but the thought of missing out completely just […]
Having fallen in love with the human special effect that is a large ensemble tap number (or, perhaps rather more accurately, observed the audience’s love for them), Shaw Festival Artistic Director Tim Carroll has cornered himself into a very specific style and era of musical theatre programming. While there’s plenty to love about said style […]
This was my one true non-negotiable of the season. As You Like It is my favourite play and the math equation of this cast plus this director meant that the floor for this production was incredibly high. We have a joke around my house that “in Chris we trust”, a shorthand to remind us to […]
I don’t quite understand what happened here. This was my most anticipated production of the season- a small chamber piece from and featuring two of my favourite festival artists- but I’m fairly certain the show was pitched as an original (performers Marla McLean and Graeme Somerville are credited as “co-creators”), an intimate work crafted out […]
I wanted so badly to like this multi-disciplinary piece from the thoughtful duo of Devon Healey (writer/performer) and Nate Bitton (performer/co-director with Mitchell Cushman). The show is produced by their company Peripheral Theatre alongside unconventional space pioneers Outside the March and the National Ballet of Canada whose apprentices appear as a beautiful but confounding supporting […]
A very strong ensemble of some of Shaw’s (and Canada’s) best highlight this strange(r than usual) Will Eno show, an adaptation of Ibsen’s epic Peer Gynt that falsely claims you don’t need to know the original to follow along. You absolutely need to know the original in order to feel rooted at all in this […]
I’ve technically put the theatre review side of this site on hiatus while I take maternity leave but the prospect of completely missing out on Toronto Fringe made me too sad so I made myself a one-day sample platter of shows taking place in and around the new festival hub at Soulpepper’s distillery district venue. […]
The Second City Toronto’s 90th(!) revue opened last night to thunderous applause. The most nuanced show I’ve seen from the high floor company in awhile, Duel Citizens features a rare cast that’s evenly strong rather than leaning on a standout or two (they’re all returning from the 89th revue so the chemistry’s pretty in place). […]