Pastoral, noun: a literary work (such as a poem or play) dealing with shepherds or rural life in a usually artificial manner and typically drawing a contrast between the innocence and serenity of the simple life and the misery and corruption of city and especially court life. As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s…
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…
The first weekend of Fringe is in the books! And with cooler weather to make being outside more bearable, it was certainly a great weekend to check out some shows! My fiance and I saw another three shows, including two of the musicals featured in the Alliance for Canadian Musicals line-up at Theatre Passe Muraille.…
Phew! Thankfully the rain finally broke the nasty heat wave we’ve been experiencing! And in time for the first weekend of Fringe! This weekend also marks the halfway point in the festival for those of us who are reviewing, so now it’s time for the final sprint! I’m always excited for the weekends during the…
The Toronto Fringe is back in full swing after the holiday! July 2 marked the final FIFA game taking place in Toronto, so the Distillery District was humming with both Fringe goers and soccer fans alike! I took in two shows as well as attended a fantastic event at Old Flame Brewery as part of…
“Goodnight, sweet Prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” Horatio’s final words to his best friend hang in the air long after he’s uttered them. As the bodies have piled up around him in that final scene, Horatio is the sole survivor of one of Shakespeare’s more bloody tragedies. This new adaptation,…
What do you do when your programming falls through? You put on the Bard of Avon, that’s who! Ronnie Burkett’s revival of Little Willy combines all of the silliness and irreverence I’ve come to expect from a Daisy Theatre show with the words and wisdom of William Shakespeare. Definitely for adult audiences only, Little Willy…
Beginning in the middle, starting thence awayTo what may be digested in a play. The prologue to William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida immediately alerts us to the fact that we’re not starting at the beginning of the Trojan War, however what it doesn’t tell us is that we won’t be ending with the end, either. Taking his cues from prior tellings of this particular tale, Troilus and Cressida…
Hear ye, hear ye! Withrow Park is coming alive yet again this year with a new work from Shakespeare in the Ruff. Behold the comedically tragic story of Tiff’ny of Athens: witness this wealthy influencer’s fall from grace right before your eyes. Expertly adapted by Nathaniel Hanula-James and Christine Horne, and deftly directed by Patricia…
“The story you are about to see has been told before. A lot. And now we are going to tell it again. But different.” The opening lines to Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil’s film “Gnomeo and Juliet” effectively sums up what it is do to Shakespeare’s works today, particularly his most popular romantic tragedy Romeo…
A View from the Box 