Toronto comedian Ashley Botting remounts her delightful musical improv Fringe showIt’s hard to articulate a show like Ashley with a “Y” playing at the Bad Dog Theatre. Musical improv that changes with every show, totally dependent on the talent and charisma of one woman and her pianist, sounds like it could be the lead up to, well, one heck of a joke.
And it pretty much lives up to its punchlines.
A bad day at work ends not with a bang but a whimper in Convergence Theatre’s Athabasca playing at the Toronto Carpet Factory as part of the 2019 Next Stage Theatre Festival.
Continue reading 2019 Next Stage Festival Review: Athabasca (Convergence Theatre)
Scorch dazzles on the Toronto stage with questions about gender and justiceSometimes a show is just great: the set, the direction, the actor, are amazing. That’s exactly what Bustle & Beast Theatre Company with Blarney Production’s Scorch playing at the Theatre Pass Muraille Backspace is: great. As a result, please allow me to count the ways Scorch is a must-see show for 2018.
Continue reading Review: Scorch (Bustle and Beast Theatre Co. and Blarney Productions)
Toronto’s French-language theatre stages a new production of Pierre de Marivaux’s playI think, sometimes, shows fall into that awkward place between comfortable and predictable. TheThéâtre français’s La Seconde surprise de l’amour/The Second Surprise of Love playing at the Berkeley Street Theatre is an eighteenth-century romantic comedy that plays out exactly as you expect. Continue reading La Seconde surprise de l’amour (Théâtre français)
Obsidian Theatre’s “pitch perfect” musical play Oraltorio: A Theatrical Mixtape takes the stage in TorontoYou ever see a show that hits all the right notes? Obsidian Theatre Company’s Oraltorio: A Theatrical Mixtape playing at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts is just that: a pitch perfect performance.
Continue reading Oraltorio: A Theatrical Mixtape (Obsidian Theatre Company/Soulpepper)
Playwright Kaitlyn Riordan had Shakespeare’s women—or lack thereof— on her mind when she constructed Portia’s Julius Caesar for Shakespeare in the Ruff playing in Withrow Park. She decided to create “a new Shakespearean play where we meet all kinds of women” using a mixture of Shakespear’s language from plays, sonnets, poetry and her own writing.
The result is an attempt to flesh out women’s roles that doesn’t quite succeed for me in the execution.
Continue reading Review: Portia’s Julius Caesar (Shakespeare in the Ruff)
Measure for Measure doesn’t break molds but delivers stellar performances, playing in TorontoIf a company attempts to reinterpret a text as more progressive than it is, does the play overcome its era?
Shakespeare BASH’d‘s Measure for Measure playing at the Junction City Music Hall might not rewrite the history books but it offers its own rewards for the audience.
Continue reading Review: Measure for Measure (Shakespeare BASH’d)
Picnic in the Cemetery is beautiful but lacks cohesion, at the Berkeley Theatre in TorontoI don’t think I’ve ever left a show quite as confused as I did walking out of Folga Gaang Project’s Picnic in the Cemetery presented in association with Canadian Stage at the Berkeley Street Upstairs Theatre.
Despite excellent parts, Picnic in the Cemetery feels it should be better than it actually is. Moreover, as an audience member, I feel like I should have liked it better than I did. It’s a show where all the excellent smothers what’s actually good.
Continue reading Review: Picnic in the Cemetery (Folga Gaang Project and Canadian Stage)
Théâtre français de Toronto’s new play Le Menteur is a fast-paced, hilarious rompThere’s lying and then there’s lying. Théâtre français de Toronto‘s Le Menteur playing at the Berkeley Street Theatre gives a tongue-in-cheek lesson to its audience on how to spin a tale.
And if you want a fun time at the theatre, this is one lesson I guarantee you’ll want to see for yourselves.
Continue reading Review: Le Menteur (Théâtre Français de Toronto)
A dark comedy of a woman’s life pre birth control, on stage at Streetcar Crowsnest in TorontoThere is no love lost for the past’s treatment of women’s bodily autonomy in 2b theatre company’s What a Young Wife Ought to Know playing at the Streetcar Crowsnest. Things are better now, if not perfect, and we’d do well to try and keep it that way.
At least, that’s how my guest and I felt leaving the theatre. We were haunted, terrified, and struck by just how important it was to hear this specific story in this day and age.
Continue reading Review: What A Young Wife Ought to Know (2B theatre company and Crow’s Theatre)