Reviews of productions based in Toronto – theatre includes traditional definitions of theatre, as well as dance, opera, comedy, performance art, spoken word performances, and more. Productions may be in-person, or remote productions streamed online on the Internet.
The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival continues to sell out and leave audiences laughing for more
The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival (affectionately known as Sketchfest) has been filled with sold-out shows. That means, it wasn’t particularly a surprise when my show partner arrived Saturday night to check out The Reception, Shock T’s, and Charles we were greeted with a s0ld-out sign. Luckily we had advanced tickets, and thank goodness for that, because otherwise we would have missed out on a really great night.
The first thing I was struck with was the jovial atmosphere. We were going to a comedy show, so this is probably seems obvious, but it was more than usual, there was just an enhanced electric energy. I think that’s what happens in a festival because you can feel it during Fringe, too. So, we grabbed our beers and piled into the space and found our seats and waited with anticipation for the show to begin.
Big league sketch troupes took to the stage in one of the final days of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival
The Comedy Bar was packed as hordes of comedy-ravenous theatregoers descended the steps for one of the final nights of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. Arriving with my friend Paul, an old-school sketch and improv performer himself, we milled around the crowd before finding our seats for our triple bill of the evening — Ladystache, The Majors, and Alley of Nightmares.
A woman comes to terms with her dying mother in The Carousel at Toronto’s Berkeley Street Theatre
Theatre is such an intense and fleeting phenomenon. It is pure magic when that cynical rug is pulled out from under us and we topple, heart first, into someone’s life. Such was my experience of Nightwood Theatre’s production of The Carousel, currently playing at the Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs.
An unnamed woman stays at the bedside of her dying mother. Sitting there, she shares with us a journey through her past, reflecting upon the behavioral patterns that echo through generations. Continue reading Review: The Carousel (Nightwood Theatre)→
Toronto’s Second City returns with Sixteen Scandals, their spring mainstage revue
Sixteen Scandals, the latest concoction down at The Second City‘s Mercer Street madhouse, is everything a comedy revue ought to be: snappy, witty, wacky, topical, fast-paced and very, very funny. On opening night, the laughter from the back row alone was shaking the foundations and frightening the pigeons.
And this show’s unique Toronto focus is especially refreshing. The Second City is one of our city’s most under-appreciated theatrical institutions: something we know about, but something we associate with tourists and corporate parties and station wagons full of Red Hat Ladies who want a few laughs but need to be in bed by eleven. That this show is so freewheeling and tight in its focus makes this an unusually good time to make the trip down King Street, if you’ve been putting it off.
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Mooney on Theatre (mooneyontheatre.com) is a recognized go-to source for information about theatre in Toronto. The fast-growing online publication focusing on theatre, was started in April 2008 with a single writer; Founding Editor, Megan Mooney. Since its establishment the publication has grown to include over 20 regular contributors and has an established and loyal readership.
