The Bean At The Foster Festival The Bean, by the prolific Norm Foster, is receiving a sprightly world premiere at the charming Sons & Daughters Winery, tucked into the countryside south of St. Catherines. Norm Foster plays are often reports from the front lines of the battle of the sexes.
The Tempest At The Stratford Festival Departing Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino’s particular brand of rough magic is on fulsome display in his imaginative production of The Tempest by William Shakespeare on the Stratford Festival’s main stage. I have long maintained that Cimolino is, arguably, the greatest interpreter of the Bard
And Then There Were None At Drayton Entertainment I didn’t add Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None at Drayton Entertainment’s St Jacobs Country Playhouse to my list of must-sees for a simple reason. I hate this kind of show. Why? you might ask. For the simple reason that, fiercely
Waiting For Godot At The Stratford Festival If you have seen Waiting For Godot by Samual Beckett as many times as I have, you approach each new one with trepidation. So it is with relief that I am able to report that director Molly Atkinson’s take on this classic at
Guys And Dolls At The Stratford Festival After nine years, Donna Feore’s sublime production of Guys and Dolls is back on the Festival Theatre stage to bathe those who saw the 2017 edition in glorious nostalgia and to enchant those encountering it for the first time. Based on the stories
The Hobbit At The Stratford Festival I saw The Hobbit at the Stratford Festival’s Avon Theatre with an audience of 800 students, some of them quite young. Their verdict is in. They loved it! They seemed to be rapt throughout the entire two and a half hours. They cheered some
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
Abraham Out As Cimolino Successor It appears that Chris Abraham, once considered one of the top candidates to replace Antoni Cimolino as artistic director of the Stratford Festival is out of the running. From the Toronto Star: “The Stratford Festival’s search for a new artistic director, the most powerful and
Liars At A Funeral Is Back I saw Liars At A Funeral in 2023 at the Blyth Festival and raved about it. This season it is being revived by Drayton Entertainment at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse. As is so often the case with plays and productions I love I
Last season, Drayton Entertainment revived Norm Foster’s Halfway There at their namesake venue in Drayton and I absolutely adored it. So when I learned they were bringing it back this season, this time at their very stylish Cambridge location, I was quick to book tickets and bring friends along. The
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
