The eclectic pairing of a visually ambitious but narratively light 20th century Russian mixed bill directed with theatrical ambition and a rich Italian bel canto full-length narrative with restrained character-focused direction makes for a beautifully balanced spring season for the Canadian Opera Company, a stretch of programming that offers something for everyone no matter why […]
Without a doubt, I am a huge fan of non-linear work. I feel it’s more reflective of how our brain’s complex neural pathways actually work. Red Light District and Buddies’ co-production of LULU V.7//Aspects of a Femme Fatale has had four years and seven versions to explore the intimate relationship one has with the subconscious, […]
Thalia Kane’s new play offers up a dark version of four young women’s coming of age in a rural Canadian high school. While the script needs some development, the play makes a significant contribution to current political conversations around consent and assault. Entering the space, the set is immediately impressive. Strings hanging from the ceiling […]
Girls Like That (Tarragon Theatre) The more I think about this fantastic ensemble piece about teenage girls dealing with the age of slut-shaming gone viral, the more shocked I am that it was written by a man. Playwright Evan Placey captures the complexities and contradictions and crushing, inescapable pressures of girlhood with such painful authenticity […]
Billed as “music theatre”, Njo Kong Kie’s first production in his residency with Canadian Stage is more of a concert with multimedia aspects than it is a piece of theatre. Inspired by his experiences picnicking in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, composer-pianist Njo Kong Kie cleverly uses this juxtaposition of life and death to create music that […]
The cryptic title of this Tom Noonan two-hander refers to a story within the play. Taken as a suggestion as to what the play itself might be, it hints that something is coming, pulling the audience to the edge of our seats as we await the inevitable devastation. What actually happens is mostly fairly mundane, […]
Love is a daunting theme on which to base any kind of project, not least because it’s been written about for thousands of years, and any attempt to say something new is nearly impossible. 40 Days and 40 Nights (co-produced by Necessary Angel Theatre Company, Electric Company Theatre, and the Theatre Centre) ambitiously tries to […]
Theatre can be a gamble so sometimes it’s nice to see something you’re relatively sure about going in. On stage now in Toronto there are three such shows- one a critical favourite (Second City), one from a never-fail company (Coal Mine), and one with the sort of dependable source material that’s impactful no matter what […]