The Summoning, by Charlotte Ahlin, is an ambitious slapstick three-person play with comedic moments that never quite becomes more than the sum of its parts. From the moment I sat in my seat and saw a giant pentagram chalked on the stage floor, I really wanted to like this play. As a fan of science […]
As the curtain went up on A Doll’s House, I was instantly pleased and very impressed by James Noone’s set design. The Huntington Theatre Company so often errs on the side of banal hyperrealism in its sets. While the gorgeous visuals and almost painfully precise attention to detail of those designs are obviously the result […]
On back-to-back nights in Toronto, I saw one of the best representations of what musical theatre can be, and one of the worst…
SpeakEasy greeted 2017 by bringing the hot Broadway hit Hand to God to the BCA. Robert Haskin’s play about a young Christian boy and his possessed, twisted sock puppet buddy Tyrone is amusing, dark, and staged to great effect by director David R. Gammons. Jason (Eliott Purcell), wants to please his harried and bereaved mother, […]
Lawrence Dial’s latest play, DANNYKRISDONNAVERONICA should come with a warning: If you are contemplating having children, spending 90 minutes…
Nightwood Theatre’s Unholy stages a debate about whether you can be both religious and a feminist. Written by Diane Flacks and directed by Kelly Thornton, the production presents us with four women, two a side, arguing both for and against institutionalized religion. On the pro side, we have Yehudite, an Orthodox Jewish leader and mother, […]
Kristen Thomson’s new play The Wedding Party opens not only the 34th season of Crow’s Theatre, but has the honour of being the inaugural production of the new Toronto theatre Streetcar Crowsnest. Those of us who have been to a few weddings (or a few dozen, as the case may be) will know that although […]
It must be difficult basing a play around a group as well-known and held in such high esteem as the Marx Brothers while still retaining the sense of individual character that a standalone play offers. Such a concept can be an opportunity to investigate and explore the wider, metaphysical nature of its subject matter in […]