CanStage’s The Other Place is difficult to write about without giving too much away. For the play is reveal after reveal, as we move back and forward in time, uncovering family secrets, buried memories, and emotional turmoil. And yet, as we move down the winding road of this dense, emotional bit of realism, I was […]
Here are four productions going up this month that particularly caught my attention. Three of the four are period pieces (two take place in 1912), and all of them, in their diverse ways, deal with the most basic of human drives: the desire to achieve fulfilment and find happiness in the face of intense environmental […]
A Steady Rain (Paper Moon Productions) This intimate cop drama presented by Paper Moon Productions in the tiny room on Queen East known as The Grocery tells an action-packed story but does so all in past tense. Anthony Parise and John Palmieri play a pair of childhood best friends turned partners, a complex odd-couple dynamic […]
2014-15 are the years that math and science became incredibly cool in popular culture and a staple of popular entertainment. Two of the hottest Oscar contenders for Best Picture this year chronicle the lives of Stephen Hawking and Alan Turing. The cast of The Big Bang Theory is reaping considerable financial rewards for their television […]
Jesus Christ Superstar (Hart House) Jesus Christ Superstar is a really gutsy musical. It’s about a human being named Jesus and his friend Judas who embark on a mission to do good in the world only to have things spiral out of control until the PR spin around Jesus is so dangerous that he’s held […]
Where do I begin in describing how much fun I had at Kerplop! The Tale of the Frog Prince? I suppose at the beginning, with a description of a traditional panto for those not in the know. A pantomime in this context is a UK theatrical tradition based on staging well-known fairy tales in an […]
A Side of Dreams is a beautiful view into Metis cultural traditions of generational and ancestral healing. The evening begins with a wondrous and effective projection of a spider beginning to spin a web, through a suspended aerial hoop. The initial image and soundscape prepare the audience for the intimate and thoughtful performance to come. […]
Two major Toronto companies are telling cancer stories right now. Nightwood’s HER2 is an ensemble of women participating in a drug trial to treat a deadly form of breast cancer known as HER2. Collecting the 7 women in a single treatment room over the course of many weeks, playwright Maja Ardal’s story looks at the […]