Preview: Huff (Native Earth Performing Arts)

Cliff Cardinal - Photo by akipariNative Earth Performing Arts kicks-off their 2015/16 season with a remount of award-winning Cree playwright, Cliff Cardinal’s darkly-comedic production, Huff, about First Nations youths dealing with solvent abuse in the face of familial tragedy. Previously opened to rave reviews at the 2012 SummerWorks Festival, the production was awarded the 2012 Buddies in Bad Times Vanguard Award for Risk & Innovation.

We asked playwright and performer Cliff Cardinal and director Karin Randoja some questions about the production.

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Review: Baobab (Young People’s Theatre)

Photo of Ralph Prosper, Aboulaye Koné, Mireille Tawfik and Nathalie CoraToronto’s Young People’s Theatre remounts their Dora Award Winning play Baobab

Sometimes, there’s nothing better than sitting back and watching a crowd of kids be enchanted by theatre. Of course, it helps when the show manages to be enchanting to the adults in the audience as well. Baobab, a remount of the Dora Award-winning 2012 production for children 4-8, comes back to the Young People’s Theatre Studio from October 13-23. Watching it, I saw an audience captivated by a combination of skillful puppetry and visuals, lovely harmonies, and a gentle myth.

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Review: Beckett Trilogy (Canadian Stage)

Lisa Dwan in Beckett Trilogy_ROCKABY. Cred_ John HaynesCanadian Stage presents Beckett Trilogy; a trio of the playwright’s one-woman pieces, in Toronto

Irish actor Lisa Dwan performs quite a feat in her production of Beckett Trilogy, playing now at Canadian Stage. Not I, Footfalls and Rockaby are short, one-woman pieces from Samuel Beckett‘s later period, all of which require a vocal mastery of cadence and an existential mastery of loneliness.  Continue reading Review: Beckett Trilogy (Canadian Stage) →