Stephen Fry’s account of the Trojan War is typically gripping, but Karen Fricker wishes for more personal commentary on the ancient mythology he knows so well.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 10:48AM“He’s taken his love of these myths and translated it and helped me understand why they’re amazing,” marvels our critic’s companion for part 2 of her Mythos diary.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:58AMUnlike some of his ancient Greek source material, Stephen Fry really knows how to spin a yarn, writes Karen Fricker in part 1 of her Mythos trilogy diary.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:46PMDonna Feore’s production brings top-notch musical theatre talent to the plate.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:26PMGender and queer desire take spotlight in this adventurous spin on Shakespeare’s classic mistaken-identity story.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:47PMTwo acclaimed productions kicking off Toronto’s Luminato Festival, RIOT and Swan Lake/Loch na hEala, are brash representations of modern-day Ireland’s break from tradition.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:00AMThe racism of 1935 is still happening today and young theatregoers need to talk about it, says Nigel Shawn Williams, directing for the Stratford Festival.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:37PMJust one night after a bomb threat cancelled season opener The Tempest, Donna Feore’s staging of this beloved 1957 musical captivates the audience, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:51PMSoulpepper Theatre production demonstrates that the lines of truth and fiction, goodness and evil, can never be drawn definitively, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:07PMThe actors in How He Lied to Her Husband don’t go full-tilt at the farce while acting styles vary in The Man of Destiny, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:22PMVeteran performer Kimberley Rampersad tries a Shaw Festival feat: onstage in one show, directing another.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:03PMFiona Byrne and Martin Happer play the developing intimacy between their characters effectively, but the dials don’t go high enough on the hijinks around them, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:45PMAudience buy-in is required to make the design and performance come together in adaptation of C.S. Lewis novel, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:32PMKaitlyn Riordan stands up impressively to a major acting challenge, playing Pierre and Margaret Trudeau plus a journalist in revival of landmark 1980 show, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:39PMPhilippe Ducros’ play is full of intense material, which this Arcstage production amps up several notches, but sometimes it becomes overwhelming, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:31PMJudith Thompson wrote ‘juicy scenes’ for her characters in After the Blackout, in which their disabilities are ‘just a by the way’.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:18PMThalia Gonzalez Kane’s play tells the story of a group of 15-year-old girls who start a sex club.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:17PMEarly years theatre, a European movement to create stage productions for audiences as young as 2 weeks old, comes to Toronto with WeeFestival, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 06:00AM40 Days and 40 Nights is clearly personal and important to its mid-career, married creators, but shades of Orientalism and mandatory, intimate audience participation makes it uncomfortable a…
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 09:00AMThe characters are all generous and pretty harmless, and they’re trying to find their way through the experience of difference while frequently falling on their faces, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:28PMAnnual Harbourfront event returns this weekend, with new creations flowing out of new social bonds forged among the gathered artists.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:30PMHarold Green Jewish Theatre production tells a familiar newcomer-in-a-closed-world story, set in a women’s ritual bath in Jerusalem, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 06:21PMEvan Placey’s Girls Like That and Christine Quintana’s Selfie have their roots in real-life stories that involve sexual consent.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:31PMActors have standout moments in Canadian Stage production, but audience is given too much information, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:20PMPerformers in show opening Tuesday in Toronto discuss the rewards and challenges of playing the lead in Fun Home.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 11:44AMPlay emerged out of Dauda’s recovery process as an alcoholic, but it’s her look at history and culture where the most interesting discoveries lie, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:36PMThe play’s inability to put a finger on what goes wrong in its English school setting seems more evasive than intriguing, writes Karen Fricker
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:30PMLaunched in 2016, PlayME podcasts of contemporary Canadian works have since had over 600,000 downloads in 90 countries.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:00PMSoheil Parsa’s second staging of the work asks all the big questions.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:00PMA new pared-down adaptation of the Victor Hugo classic takes Louise Pitre back to her breakthrough role.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 06:00AMSet in 1920s Ottawa, Hannah Moscovitch’s play adds to an important conversation about gender inequity and female sexuality, writes Karen Fricker.
SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:39PM
