The Orphan Of Chao At The Shaw Festival This season the Shaw Festival’s morning one-act offering at the Royal George Theatre is Michael Man’s adaptation of Ji Junxiang’s The Great Revenge of the Orphan of Chao. Written in the thirteenth century but based on a much earlier story, The Orphan
Doris And Ivy In The Home At Drayton Entertainment Doris and Ivy in the Home by Norm Foster is destined to be one of Drayton Entertainment’s biggest hits this season if the reaction of the packed house at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse is anything to go by. If you
Wendy And Peter Pan At The Stratford Festival “Female-forward” is one of the sillier neologisms of our new theatrical dispensation, but it is an apt descriptor for Wendy and Peter Pan, now being presented at Stratford’s Avon Theatre as part of the ongoing series of Schulich Children’s Plays. As the
The Farm Show: Then & Now At The Blyth Festival The Blyth Festival is celebrating its 50th anniversary season by going back to its origins with The Farm Show: Then & Now, a lively bit of meta theatre directed by artistic director Gil Garratt, with additional dialog by members of
La Cage Aux Folles At The Stratford Festival I was such a devotee of the 1978 French film, La Cage Aux Folles, that I assiduously avoided all of its various American stage and film adaptations. Until now. I’m glad I waited to break this particular fast with the glorious production
Cymbeline At The Stratford Festival William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, which is receiving a disappointing production at the Tom Patterson Theatre, is the most problematical of the Bard’s so-called “problem plays.” Critics from Dr. Johnson to Harold Bloom have wrestled with explicating the play with middling success and I am not foolish
Mojada At Yale Rep The play’s title is Mojada, which literally means “wet” in Spanish, the feminine form of the Mexican slur for “wetback.” The play’s subtitle is A Medea in Los Angeles, so you know things aren’t going to end well. And I’m not talking about the traffic on
Sound Of The Underground at The Royal Court Those coming to Travis Alabanza’s Sound of the Underground at London’s Royal Court Theatre expecting the sort of cheerful, glamorous drag show popularized by La Cage Aux Folles and Ru Paul’s Drag Race will likely be disappointed. Those who can handle some
Vodka With Stalin [Full Disclosure: I am a long-time friend of the playwright.] Francis Beckett is a prominent English historian of twentieth century left-wing British politics who writes the occasional play. In Vodka With Stalin, now enjoying a brief run at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, in Highgate, London, he has
Pride And Prejudice At Kentucky Shakespeare Jane Austen purists may be horrified by Kate Hamill’s rollicking, anything-for-a-laugh 2017 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. They would be well advised to put their high standards aside for an evening and enjoy the often hilarious romp being presented by Kentucky Shakespeare in the
Christmas in Connecticut at Goodspeed Opera House Christmas in Connecticut, the 1945 Warner brothers film, is a sappy, sentimental, but nonetheless highly enjoyable rom-com (to use a turn of phrase not yet then coined). Its success is due largely to the chemistry between stars Barbara Stanwyck and the now largely
The Brightest Thing In The World At Yale Rep As Leah Nanako Winkler’s The Brightest Thing in the World opens, two attractive young women, Steph (Michele Selene Ang) and Lane (Katherine Romans), meet cute in a Lexington, Kentucky, coffee shop. And meet. And meet. And meet. Over the course of
The Real Poems Returns To Stratford One of the highlights of last season was Here For Now Theatre‘s production of The Real Poems, a superb one-man show written and performed by Robert McQueen. Here is the opening paragraph of my review: With its closing production of Robert McQueen’s beautifully written,
Here For Now Theatre Announces 2023 Season [From their press release.] On Monday, March 1st, HERE FOR NOW THEATRE announced their exciting 2023 SEASON of SIX CANADIAN ONE ACTS to be presented June 28th– September 23rd, in Stratford Ontario at a BRAND NEW beautiful outdoor venue behind the STRATFORD PERTHMUSEUM.
Donna Feore Comes To Connecticut Great news! Donna Feore is slated to direct and choreograph Summer Stock at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT, from July 7 to August 27, 2023. This world premiere is inspired by the 1950 film of the same name that starred Judy Garland and
Here For Now Theatre has announced new digs for its 2023 season – a canopy on the grounds of the Stratford Perth Museum on the western fringe of Stratford. It’s a return to the roots of this plucky little troupe, now entering its fourth season. The first two Here
Girls & Boys Moves To Crow’s Theatre In my review of Girls & Boys, presented by Here For Now Theatre last summer in Stratford, I fretted that there was precious little time left in its short run to allow those who stumbled on my review to see it – and
The 2022 OntarioStage Awards What they lack in prestige, they more than make up for in pointlessness.™ I’m not a major theatre critic, but I do play one on this website. 2022 marked the first year I made a serious attempt at reviewing all the plays I see, something I
