A new play about the internment of Japanese-Canadians during WWII is presented in Toronto

Canadians are often guilty of a kind of smug, exceptionalism when it comes to issues of diversity and inclusion, especially when we compare ourselves to the giant dumpster fire that is the US. Rarely do we acknowledge or critically examine our own dark history. 

Events like our government’s forced internment of thousands of Canadians of Japanese heritage during World War II remain untaught or under-taught in our high school history classes. That’s why works like Japanese Problem are so vital if we are to truly understand who we are as a country.  Continue reading Review: Japanese Problem (Soulpepper/Universal Limited) →

Jim Steinman’s rock n’ roll musical Bat out of Hell returns to Toronto in time for Halloween

There’s a lot to unpack in Bat out of Hell, but this show prefers to throw the whole suitcase at you. Except, the suitcase is an exploding car engine. Based on the songs of Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, the show is back at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre as part of its current North American tour.

Continue reading Review: Bat out of Hell (Mirvish) →

Hadrian, on Stage at the COC in Toronto is one for the history books

The world premiere of Hadrian by Rufus Wainwright, currently being produced by the Canadian Opera Company, has nothing to do with a guy building a big wall. Since I really didn’t know anything else about Hadrian going into this performance, I had very few expectations plot-wise.

Being familiar with Wainwright’s singer-songwriter style, I had more expectations about the music.  Still, I wasn’t sure how this would translate to the operatic form. It transpired that I was entranced by both the compelling story and the towering score. Continue reading Review: Hadrian (Canadian Opera Company) →

Ghost Light Anthology, the Toronto debut of Aberrant Theatre, collects five short scripts, six actors in multiple roles and numerous surprises, scares and shocks.

Continue reading Review: Ghost Light Anthology (Aberrant Theatre) →

The Governor General’s Literary Award finalist play opens in Toronto

Anosh Irani’s The Men in White, produced by Factory Theatre, brings renewed urgency to a quintessential topic in Canadian literature—that of the immigrant’s adaptation to the space between Canada and the homeland—by focusing less on assimilation and more on what it means to live a good life in a globalized world. Continue reading Review: The Men in White (Factory Theatre) →