Five Faces for Evelyn Frost experiments with social media to tell a story, on stage in Toronto

A quintet of youthful white-appearing actors, rapidly changing projection of photographs, bright white light, onslaught of short declarative sentences, nonlinear storytelling — taken together, these form most of the new show Five Faces For Evelyn Frost at Canadian Stage. If two or more of these appeal to you, you might find Five Faces For Evelyn Frost an appealing artistic work. I did not.

Continue reading Review: Five Faces For Evelyn Frost (Canadian Stage and Theatre francais de Toronto) →

George Brown showcases promising talent on stage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

If you’re in need of some Shakespeare, then you can get your fix in the distillery district this month. The George Brown School of Performing Arts is putting on a double feature of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It at The Young  Centre for the Performing Arts.

This is strictly a review of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. When I first saw the posting, I naively assumed that it was some sort of mashup, selection of scenes, or drastically cut versions being performed together. This isn’t the case: if you go on a given night you’ll be seeing one or the other, and in my case it was Midsummer. Continue reading Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (George Brown Theatre) →

Environmentalism and Faith feature in Peace River Country, now on stage in Toronto

Tarragon Theatre’s production of Peace River Country takes to the stage with the story of a rural Albertan family whose life is progressively destroyed by incoming gas-mining companies. The family fights back, the situation escalates, and the result is a suspenseful, well-crafted drama that resonates with today’s ongoing environmental struggles.

I loved Peace River Country; I thought the performances were superb, the production design thoughtful and creative, and the dialogue believable and well-written. But Peace River Country also has a very strong theme of Christianity, and I can imagine the centrality of this theme might be off-putting to some audience members.

Continue reading Review: Peace River Country (Tarragon Theatre) →

My Night with Reg is “fantastic” and “nuanced”, on stage at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto

My Night with Reg, a Studio 180 production, had it’s Canadian premier on Wednesday as part of the Off-Mirvish series. Based on the pull quotes on the poster at the theatre you could be forgiven for expecting a rollicking comedy. It’s witty and funny but it’s also honest and heartbreaking. It’s much more than a gay drawing room comedy. Continue reading Review: My Night With Reg (Studio 180) →