Alexander Franks

Casimir and Caroline opens on a balcony. No…. more than that. The play opens on a balcony at a corporate office party while the heads of corporate are in fact up in the sky in a zeppelin.  Now have you ever actually really experienced a balcony at a corporate office party while the heads of corporate are […]

  Kelly Bedard

After I saw Brigadoon, the Shaw Festival’s magical staging of a reimagined classic musical, I right away sat down to write about the experience. At least for me, the night I saw it, the mood I was in, Brigadoon was a fully contained theatrical moment about which I had plenty to say. Another staff writer […]

  Kelly Bedard

Noises Off Did we need another 70s-set backstage theatre farce mere months after Jitters? No. But Soulpepper’s production of Noises Off made me laugh louder and with more obnoxious uncontainable shrieks than anything else I’ve seen this year so I’ll welcome the repetition. Simon Fon’s fight and stunt work was still too careful and a […]

  Kelly Bedard

Before we announce the winners of the 2015 MyTheatre Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. One of only three artists this year to be nominated in the same category (Outstanding Direction) in two separate divisions, Ravi Jain’s 2015 work on Toronto’s stages both large (Soulpepper’s Dora-winning Accidental Death of an Anarchist) and medium […]

  Oliver Simmonds

Its language and rhythms belong more to the French New Wave than a stage, yet La Musica has some inspired instances. Within it, we get to know a couple about to complete their divorce proceedings, the man being played by Sam Troughton and the woman by Emily Barclay. We learn of seduction, attempted murder and […]

  Theresa Perkins

As I toiled at my college dorm desk in December of 2006, cursing my political science methodology thesis, my classmates were breaking dorm policy by blaring music during quiet hours. Not just any music – the same iTunes playlist that had been on repeat all day. Most type A personalities would have been infuriated, but, […]

  Kelly Bedard

The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt was the last production I saw this year at the Shaw Festival (I’m reviewing out of order because this simply couldn’t wait). Before I saw this world premiere (four years in the making by Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard and translator Linda Gaboriau), I was already considering the […]

  Kelly Bedard

Bedroom Farce Soulpepper isn’t trying to hide the fact that this is their “something nice and easy for the subscribers” show of the year. Artistic director Albert Schultz all but called it exactly that in an interview earlier last month. Is it depressing as hell to see something this trivial pack the house while Accidental […]

  Kelly Bedard

Tom at the Farm (Buddies in Bad Times) This gorgeous and disturbing piece of personal theatre from Canadian playwright Michel Marc Bouchard is one of the first truly great productions I’ve seen this year. Making its English language debut through Linda Gaboriau’s poetic and honest translation, Tom at the Farm is staged with searing insight […]

  Marty Chodorek

Montréal is one of my favourite cities to visit. Perhaps it’s the surreal experience of walking down a city street, not entirely unlike a Toronto street, and seeing familiar corporate logos with unfamiliar French names. The feeling of stepping into an alternate reality where things are just different enough that you’re forced to pay attention […]

  Kelly Bedard

The two one-act plays that make up Spiel Players’ double bill- currently playing as part of Fraser Studios’ 2015 indie season- are both new adaptations of strange, challenging work from radical French playwright Marguerite Duras. They both revel in meandering, poetic language and the pointed vagueness of their character portraits but that is where their similarities […]

The Soulpepper Academy is one of the most consistent breeding grounds for up and coming theatre artists in the country. Albert Schultz’s proven eye for talent and an excellent combination of training and mentorship throughout the 2-year program has resulted in a slew of promising players class after class. The program keeps expanding (there are […]

  Kelly Bedard

Before we announce the winners of the 2012 My Theatre Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Gord Rand was the translator and enigmatic performer behind one of the most affecting pieces of theatre in 2012- Candles Are For Burning‘s workshop of The 20th of November. Playing an unhinged man about to shoot up […]