All posts by Catherine Jan

A former freelance translator in Paris, Catherine Jan now enjoys writing in Toronto and about Toronto. Especially about Toronto theatre. She also blogs about translation, copywriting, editing and other word-related past-times at Catherine Translates. Are you on Twitter? Join @translatetrad‘s 2,000 followers who keep up with her workin’ girl tweets.

Review: Noises Off (Scarborough Players)

photo of Noises Off castScarborough Village Theatre presents the farcical play Noises Off in east Toronto

The actors of Noises Off at the Scarborough Village Theatre put on a fantastic show about actors putting on a not-so-fantastic show called “Nothing On.” Mishaps, both onstage and off, multiply with each scene throughout the course of this farce.

This play about a play was well-loved by the audience, thanks largely to the witty story by Michael Frayn, the physical comedy by the earnest but confused characters, as well as a set that shows us the stage of the fictional play in the first and final acts, but pivots to show what happens behind-the-scenes in the second act allowing us to see the frenzied behaviour on the other side of the curtain.

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Review: I Call myself Princess (Paper Canoe Projects/Cahoots Theatre/Native Earth Performing Arts)

I Call myself Princess, Jani Lauzon’s “play with opera,” is now playing at Toronto’s Aki Studio

Written by Jani Lauzon, I Call myself Princess is a powerful, captivating play that addresses Indigenous identity and culture. Playing at Toronto’s Aki Studio, this musical performance is above all an eye-opener.

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Birds Make Me Think About Freedom (L’Arche Toronto Sol Express) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of Melissa Marshall in Birds Make Me Think about Freedom

Birds Make Me Think About Freedom by L’Arche Toronto Sol Express is a memorable, eye-opening story at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival. Playing at the Al Green Theatre, it reveals the dark past of the institutionalization of people with intellectual disabilities in Ontario. The play is performed with grace and beauty, and it tells us much about resilience.  Continue reading Birds Make Me Think About Freedom (L’Arche Toronto Sol Express) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

SUM: A Shadow Puppet Reading of David Egleman’s Tales from the Afterlive (Sticks and Strings Theatre) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of Sequoia Erickson by Hans Krause

Playing at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse, SUM: A Shadow Puppet Reading of David Egleman’s Tales from the Afterlives is a shadow puppet performance at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival. Put on by Sticks and Strings Theatre, SUM is a reflection that touches upon God, heaven, reincarnation, self-awareness and other heavy themes.

Continue reading SUM: A Shadow Puppet Reading of David Egleman’s Tales from the Afterlive (Sticks and Strings Theatre) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review