Who are you drawn to? Is it people who look like you, or think like you? What about someone who’s charming or vivacious? Or maybe you’re drawn to those you think you can fix, those with “natural deficiencies”? Erin Shields’s To A Flame looks at the perils of being drawn in by someone who might…
When you’re a teenager, the world feels huge and mysterious, and it’s hard to find anyone who will actually tell you what’s really going on. To find anything out, you have to rely on each other. Frank Wedekind’s remarkable play Spring Awakening, deftly adapted and directed by Paulo Santalucia, looks at a group of teenagers…
“This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space” - Henry David Thoreau, “Walden or, Life in the Woods” Many of us look up to the stars in awe of the vastness of space, but few of us have ever experienced it. But what if the opportunity to fulfill your dream was…
“You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair” The truth in these words reverberated through me long after they were said. They replayed over and over in my head as I drove home: isn’t this the emotional tightrope we all walk? And the tightrope feels like it’s getting thinner by the moment.…
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a story artists return to time and time again; whether it’s performed on stage or film, heavily adapted (“The Lion King” is Hamlet and yes, I will die on that particular hill) or more like Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 feature film which has a 4 hour and 2 minute run time, we…
Rachel Cairns as performed her solo play Hypothetical Baby many times, with the titular baby always being quite hypothetical. Until recently! Now a mum, Cairns is doing a limited engagement of Hypothetical Baby at Here For Now Theatre. I get to ask her about that production, how her life has changed, and what’s next for…
If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it... Music fills the High Park Amphitheatre, feeding the love story which is to come. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night shows us love in many of its forms, and Gregory Prest’s expertly directed production distills the work down to its very essence and makes…
Every generation has it’s “where were you when?” moment. When JFK was assassinated, when John Lennon was killed, when the twin towers fell. I was in my sixth grade classroom, as my teacher leaned on the blackboard ledge and had to deliver the news to a group of 10 and 11 year olds that their…
And just like that, another year of reviewing the Fringe comes to a close. It’s been a fabulous ten days of theatre, friends, connection, and community. I’d like to thank the Toronto Fringe Festival for having me back to review again this year, it’s always such a marathon but one which leaves me feeling fuller…
It was my longest day of the Fringe, with four shows spread out over the day (and it was a hot day at that!) I really enjoyed seeing so much theatre all within a few blocks of one another! I’m also so thankful for the lovely conversations I got to have with some Fringe performers,…
