Do you ever feel stuck on the hamster wheel of life? What would you be willing to do to set yourself free? Sophie Treadwell’s 1928 classic explores cultural expectations for women through the eyes of a young woman who’s stifled by her life. This production, directed by Michelle Soicher, features exceptional design, and fantastic performances…
There are two rules to theatre: “The show must go on” and “Shit happens.” Playing Shylock, written by Mark Leiren-Young and directed by Martin Kinch, exemplifies these rules with its own unique twists and turns. Starring legend of stage and screen Saul Rubinek, Playing Shylock is an intensely personal look at Rubinek’s life and his…
“You only have one story” and Lucy Barton is ready to tell hers. My Name is Lucy Barton, written by Elizabeth Strout and adapted for the stage by Rona Munro, is a harrowing tale of Lucy’s fight for her life, both as a child and as an adult spending nine weeks in the hospital. Maev…
My second day at Next Stage Festival was just as thrilling and eventful as the first. I saw the other two shows being offered in the Chamber at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, which are This Feels Like The End and The Noose. Two remarkably different stories, both told in their own unique styles; this…
The Toronto Fringe Festival’s Next Stage Festival is back for its 17th year, and once again this year they have 6 exciting shows on offer. All 6 shows take place at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, with four of them in the main Chamber space, and the other two in the Cabaret space. On its…
“A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.” Diogenes’ musings about friendship are aptly discussed in Aaron Posner Chaim Potok’s play The Chosen, based off of Potok’s novel by the same name. Two young men become friends through very unlikely circumstances, and while their upbringings are very different, they connect in so many ways.…
The candles are lit, the curtains drawn, it’s time for a ghost story. Duncan MacMillan’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Rosmersholm is a poignant tale which feels like it’s been ripped out of today’s headlines. Full of complex ideas and even more complicated characters, Rosmersholm delves into the ambitions, heartaches, and politics of the Norse nobility.…
Can you remember the worst pain you’ve ever been in? I certainly can, I once had a kidney stone which kept me in the hospital for four days. It was not a good time. The ladies at the wellness retreat in Annie Baker’s Infinite Life also don’t seem like they’re having a good time, at…
“Ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, HEDWIG!” John Cameron Mitchell’s opening line to his queer masterpiece Hedwig and the Angry Inch reverberates through the theatre as “America the Beautiful” begins to sound on the electric guitar. Though technically a musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock concert, history lesson, and…
“Deep down underneath it all I have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar, on my desk.” Robert Bloch’s witticism (yes, Stephen King borrowed the line from him) is perfectly symbolic of the quirky gruesomeness that is With Love and a Major Organ by Julia Lederer. It’s Canadian premiere, directed…
