The Last Mayor Of Rusty River At The Blyth Festival Small town politics receives the Blyth Festival treatment in the delightful The Last Mayor of Rusty River, a broad comedy by David Scott and Blyth Artistic Director Gil Garratt, with original songs by John Powers. The action takes place in
Schoolhouse At 4th Line Theatre Schoolhouse, a memory play by Leanna Brodie, is getting a spirited revival under the inventive direction of Monica Dottor at the rural – very rural – 4th Line Theatre. Developed at 4th Line and premiered at the Blyth Festival in 2006, Schoolhouse takes us back
Curveball At The Blyth Festival Following up on the success of Sisters of ’78, and with much the same cast, the Blyth Festival’s world premiere production of Curveball tells the story of Stratford’s Kroehler Girls. Like Sisters it is the tale of Canadian women struggling to make their mark in
Funny Girl At The Shaw Festival Funny Girl, the bio-musical of Fanny Brice haunted by memories of the performance that shot Barbra Streisand to super-stardom, is being born anew at the Shaw Festival thanks to a luminous Sara Farb. With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and a
One For The Pot At The Shaw Festival What to say about One For The Pot now at the Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake other than “WTF!?” One For The Pot by Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton is one of the famous “Whitehall farces” that ruled the London stage in the
Heartbreak House At The Shaw Festival Tim Carroll’s production of George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House boasts a stellar cast. Why then does it fall so flat? A major reason, I think, is that a very important character is missing – Heartbreak House. Not the play but the physical location. Shaw
Rhinoceros At The Yale Rep The Yale Rep is mounting a spirited revival of Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist masterpiece Rhinoceros in a new adaptation by Frank Galati (from a translation by Derek Prouse) under the direction of Liz Diamond. Ionesco’s parable depicts a small French town whose residents are turning, one
English At Long Wharf Theatre English, the first play by Sanaz Toosi, comes to New Haven with impeccable credentials – a Pulitzer Prize in 2023 following its Off-Broadway debut in 2022 and then a Broadway remount in 2025. Even though English is now getting a solid production at Long Wharf’s
A Christmas Carol at KCRep Having just seen two modern Canadian adaptations of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the Blyth Festival and the Foster Festival, I found it fascinating to take in a good, old-fashioned production of the perennial holiday favourite in Kansas City, Missouri. The KCRep is one of
Spunk at Yale Rep The Yale Rep in New Haven, Connecticut, has unearthed a treasure in Zora Neale Hurston’s exuberant 1935 play with music, Spunk. It was never produced and lay forgotten before being rediscovered in the Library of Congress in 1997. Refurbished and lovingly fleshed out with new songs
Make England Great Again Upstairs At The Gatehouse Scathing political satire seems to be in short supply on North American stages (if I’m wrong, please correct me in the Comments), but thanks to Francis Beckett’s perfectly timed Make England Great Again it’s alive and well in London. Make England Great
Mitridate Re Di Ponto at the Teatro Real When I was a lad of fourteen I had learned to do something kinda fun. At the same tender age, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had learned how to compose an opera. Mitridate, Re di Ponto, the opera in question, is being presented at
The Odyssey And The Oddity I took a break from theatre to go see Christopher Nolan’s bladder-busting three-hour blockbuster The Odyssey. I can confidently report that it’s okay. I won’t presume to “review” it. Film criticism is above my pay grade, but I will permit myself some observations. It seems
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Bob Krist, retired photographer for National Geographic magazine, who is now sharing his professional know-how along with a growing collection of travel videos on YouTube. Like me, he has a life-long love of theatre so a pilgrimage to Canada’s two major
Brushing Up Your Shakespeare I am an avid listener of The History of English Podcast, by Kevin Stroud, which helps while away the time as I commute back and forth from Stratford to the Great Satan to the south (thank you, Immigration Canada). Unless you’re a hopeless language nerd like
The Blyth Festival Podcast I wanted to give a brief shout out to the Blyth Festival Podcast, an excellent way to keep abreast of what’s coming up at Blyth. Hosted by Joanne Wallace, Blyth’s Director of Development, these short (35 to 45 minute) episodes typically take the form of interviews
“We’re A Cult” – The Leonor Stratford has a new “third space!” The Leonor on George is hard to categorize and hard to resist. It’s a bookshop/boutique/tea room/performance space that seeks to become a gathering place for Stratford’s arts community and those drawn to it. The tag line says it
Stratford Takes A Giant Step – Backward When the Stratford Festival began in 1953, it was helmed by a Brit, the legendary Tyrone Guthrie. The Festival continued to turn to the mother country for leadership for many years thereafter. Since Richard Monette became Artistic Director in 1994 the Festival has
