All posts by Jennifer McKinley

Review: Under The Skin (Unit 102 Actors Company)

Secrets are revealed when a little girl goes missing in Under the Skin playing at Toronto’s Unit 102

As I was picking up my tickets at Unit 102 on opening night of Under The Skin, the front of house manager’s words echoed in the space: “The show is an hour and forty-five minutes, no intermission.” In my recent theatre-going experience, nothing fills me with dread more than such an utterance. I subscribe to the ‘cap-it-at-eighty-minutes-and-call-it-a-day’ philosophy of one-act plays. However, even the wisest among us are wrong at times, and I am happy to report that I enjoyed every one of the performance’s one hundred and five minutes. Continue reading Review: Under The Skin (Unit 102 Actors Company)

Review: Forgiveness: a theatrical poem (Modern Times Stage Company)

Poetry meets theatre in Forgiveness playing in Toronto at the Great Hall’s Black Box Theatre

Forgiveness: a theatrical poem is playing at the Black Box Theatre and the show opens with a microphone on a cord being lowered to a tape player resting on a chair. Recorded voices talk about forgiveness and their take on it. The first scene erupts in violence, chaos and movement before we land again in the presence of a couple at odds with each other. Forgiveness is  a series of scenes dealing with the titular theme and that theme is explored in romantic and familial relationships, between strangers, in empty political apologies, in war crimes, and with the self.

Continue reading Review: Forgiveness: a theatrical poem (Modern Times Stage Company)

Preview: 360 Screenings (LOVE)

360 Screenings’ founders talk love, relationships and their upcoming Valentine’s Day event

Ned Loach and Robert Gontier are the creators of 360 Screenings, a series of immersive and interactive theatrical and cinematic events that take place in repurposed Toronto heritage buildings.  The audience does not know the location until twenty-four hours beforehand and the screening is a mystery until clues are presented during the live portion of the event.

Their first event took place in May 2012 and their seventh one, following the theme of Valentine’s Day, takes place this weekend.

If 360 Screenings weren’t unique enough, Artistic Producer Ned Loach and Artistic Director Robert Gontier are also happily married (to each other) and madly in love. I spoke with them about their passion, project and maintaining the work-love balance. Continue reading Preview: 360 Screenings (LOVE)

Review: The Way Back To Thursday (Theatre Passe Muraille)

A song cycle tells the story of a boy and his grandmother in The Way Back to Thursday at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille

The Way Back To Thursday

The Way Back To Thursday, playing at Theatre Passe Muraille, is about a boy and his grandmother who develop a special relationship in his formative years as they bond over old Hollywood movies. When Cameron comes of age, he moves across the country to separate the secret of his sexuality from his grandmother. She tries to maintain the relationship and he evades it with devastating consequences. By the end, Cameron takes a shot at redemption and the final moments are utterly heart-wrenching.

Continue reading Review: The Way Back To Thursday (Theatre Passe Muraille)

2014 Next Stage Theatre Festival Review: Release the Stars: The Ballad of Randy and Evi Quaid (God is in the Dairy)

The story of Randy and Evi Quaid makes its way to Toronto’s Next Stage Festival in Release the Stars 

release-the-stars-finalRelease the Stars: The Ballad of Randy and Evi Quaid is part of this year’s Next Stage Theatre Festival and is playing at Factory Theatre Studio. Its Toronto premiere was at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2012 and I kicked myself for missing it. I can’t remember what drew me to it then — perhaps it was the star power of the titular characters, my curiosity about site specific shows or because I am a fan of Amanda Barker — but what I saw this past Wednesday night was not what I was expecting. Continue reading 2014 Next Stage Theatre Festival Review: Release the Stars: The Ballad of Randy and Evi Quaid (God is in the Dairy)