Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf At Canadian Stage I’m not a big fan of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and the new production at Canadian Stage’s Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto did nothing to change my mind. Perhaps when it debuted in 1962 this three hour plus exercise
Wights at Crow’s Theatre Wights, a noble failure of a play by Liz Appel, is getting the high-tech, razzle-dazzle treatment from director Chris Abraham that’s fast becoming his signature style at Crow’s Theatre in Toronto. Despite its drawbacks, I found it well worth the schlep into T-Town. In a house
Heist At The Grand Theatre Playwright Arun Lakra, whose Heist is enjoying an exuberant production at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, is a self-confessed fan of heist movies. His favourite and the apparent inspiration for Heist is Ocean’s Eleven, the star studded caper flick of 2001. Heist, the stage
Dinner With The Duchess At Here For Now Theatre Playwright Nick Green made quite a splash last season at the Stratford Festival with his powerful and touching Casey and Diana. He has returned to Stratford, not to the Festival stages but to the intimate confines of Here For Now Theatre’s
Hedda Gabler At The Stratford Festival Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler from 1891 is one of the masterpieces of early modern theatre. It was quite shocking back then. In the production now playing at the Stratford Festival’s Tom Patterson Theatre it is more puzzling than anything else. The title role is
The Diviners At The Stratford Festival The Diviners, a classic of Canadian literature by Margaret Laurence, is being brought to grand and glorious life in a sinuous adaptation by Vern Thiessen and Yvette Nolan on the stage of the Stratford Festival’s Tom Patterson Theatre. The Diviners is a sprawling work
Eden At Yale Rep The Yale Rep kicks off the new year with a welcome revival of Steve Carter’s 1976 play, Eden. The first of Carter’s so-called Caribbean Trilogy, Eden won awards both in New York and Los Angeles, but as far as I can tell has been revived only
Orgasmos at Teatro Arlequin in Madrid Based on the title, one might expect that Orgasmos (Orgasms), which enjoyed a recent one-night stand – how appropriate! – at Madrid’s Teatro Arlequin Gran Via, was devised to lure in sad old men in greasy raincoats and Japanese tourists, rather like O Calcutta
Lucia Di Lammermoor At The Bayerische Staatsoper Before I get to Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor, and in the interest of full disclosure, let me begin by confessing my profound ignorance of classical music and all things operatic. Not only is it an art form for which I have no instinctive
Othello At The Royal Shakespeare Company Tim Carroll is taking a bit of a sabbatical from his duties as Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival in Canada’s Niagara-on-the-Lake to direct William Shakespeare’s Othello at the Royal Shakespeare Company in England’s Stratford-upon-Avon. I’ve seen four Shakespeares directed by Carroll, at The
The Lehman Trilogy In The West End “Give ‘em the old razzle-dazzle,” from Chicago, kept going through my mind as I watched Sam Mendes’ astonishing production of The Lehman Trilogy, now being revived on London’s West End at the spacious yet intimate Gillian Lynne Theatre. Adapted by Ben Power from
Safe House At The Abbey Theatre I haven’t had much luck with the Irish avant garde. I have vague memories of a wordless Grotowsi-esque rendition of the Great Hunger that came to New York some decades ago. Now there’s Safe House, the new 90-minute whatchamacallit by Enda Walsh and Anna
Here For Now Announces 2025 Season Stratford’s Here For Now Theatre has announced a 2025 season of five one-act plays, all premieres of one sort or another, running from May 28 to August 31. This will be the company’s first season in its new indoor space in Stratford’s former Registry
Vale Atque Ave or Wither Stratford? The Latin scholars among you may recognize that headline as an inversion of the more traditional “Ave Atque Vale” (Hail and Farewell). I refer, of course, to the upcoming changing of the guard at the Stratford Festival, where Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino will be
What Was I Thinking? As I was meandering through Europe, contemplating exile, I found myself in Siracusa, Italy, taking it slow and relaxing in a nice hotel as I recuperated from back and leg pain (long story). Once I was feeling better I ventured out to explore Ortigia, Siracusa’s “old
Rampersad Helms ‘The Red Shoes’ At RSC Following in Tim Carroll’s footsteps, Kimberley Rampersad, the Associate Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival is directing and choreographing The Red Shoes at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. This Red Shoes is a new version of Hans Christian Andersen’s “dark fairy tale”
The 2024 OntarioStage Awards What they lack in prestige, they more than make up for in pointlessness.™ It’s the third time around for the annual awards compilation voted “Easiest to Ignore” by the Canadian theatre establishment. The usual caveats apply: As an American, my time in Canada is limited thanks
Lighthouse Theatre Announces Its 2025 Season The Lighthouse Theatre in Port Dover, Ontario, was new to me this season, but based on my visit to see Norm Foster’s Lakefront, I’ll be returning to their comfy 350-seat house next year. Lighthouse has announced its 2025 season and it looks more than
