The Front Page at The Stratford Festival – A Review
The Front Page at The Stratford Festival In 1928, The Front Page was a huge Broadway hit for the legendary writing team of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Set in the Press Room of a Chicago courthouse, it tells the story of how rapacious newspaper editor Walter Burns tries to retain the services of his […]
Birds of a Kind at the Stratford Festival – A Review
Birds of a Kind at the Stratford Festival This season, the Stratford Festival’s Studio Theatre is home to two plays set in the Holy Land, both of them dealing with issues if identity and religious tolerance. They also share most of the same actors, so seeing them both makes for an instructive exercise. Nathan the […]
In the Wake of Wettlaufer at The Blyth Festival – A Review
In the Wake of Wettlaufer at The Blyth Festival Between 2007 and 2016, Elizabeth Wettlaufer, a registered nurse in Ontario, murdered eight elderly patients under her care and attempted to kill six others. Her weapon was lethal doses of insulin. Astonishingly enough, her crimes were never detected by the institutions and agencies for which she […]
Beside Myself at The Foster Festival – A Review
Beside Myself at The Foster Festival These days it seems the most “transgressive” thing a musical could possibly do is tell a tale of heterosexual love. And yet, in Beside Myself, Norm Foster and his musical collaborator, Steve Thomas, have boldly gone where few have dared to tread recently. Foster provided the book, Thomas the […]
The Team on the Hill at The Blyth Festival – A Review
The Team on the Hill at The Blyth Festival The Blyth Festival scores another hit with their production of The Team On The Hill by Canada’s beloved Dan Needles. When it comes to life on the farm, Needles knows whereof he speaks. Needles, the scion of Canadian theatre royalty and something of a national treasure, […]
Twelve Angry Men at Drayton Entertainment – A Review
Twelve Angry Men, is receiving a stunning, Broadway-quality production from Drayton Entertainment under the direction of Marti Maraden.
The Ladykillers at The Shaw Festival – A Review
The Ladykillers at The Shaw Festival The original “mandate” of The Shaw Festival was to produce the work of the eponymous playwright. That was broadened to include any work written in his lifetime, which conveniently enough was quite long (he died in 1950). Eventually, that was tweaked to allow new Canadian plays to be showcased. […]
The Russian Play at The Shaw Festival – A Review
The Russian Play at The Shaw Festival A “like-a-joke” is a dismissive term of art in the world of TV sitcoms. It denotes a snippet of dialog that is structured like a joke, that is recognized as a joke, that triggers the laugh track, but that is not actually funny. To my way of thinking […]
Hilda’s Yard at The Foster Festival – A Review
Hilda’s Yard at The Foster Festival After mounting The Writer, Norm Foster’s newest play and something of a departure for the prolific playwright, The Foster Festival returns to more familiar ground with its revival of his cockeyed comedy, Hilda’s Yard. Set in 1956, in the backyard of the Hilda […]
Sex at The Shaw Festival – A Review
Sex at The Shaw Festival I have wanted to see the 1926 play Sex ever since, as a Mae West-besotted undergraduate, I first became aware of its existence. Mae wrote, produced, directed, and starred in it and went to the slammer because of it. Who wouldn’t want to see it? Thanks to Peter Hinton-Davis and […]