The Stratford Festival puts a modern sheen on 1928 newspaper comedy The Front Page. by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

What really makes this Front Page feel fresh is its social, gender, racial and character complications — things that a mainstream audience in 2019 is much more equipped and eager to invest…

All’s Well That Ends Well gets a romantic twist from Dauntless City Theatre, but it fails to convince by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Cross-gender and cross-racial casting bring it into 2019, but these interventions can’t resolve the fundamentally cynical relationships in Shakespeare’s problem play, writes Carly Maga.

Shaw Festival’s Victory strips some of the urgency from Howard Barker’s incredible text by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The production has one of the most impressive casts in recent memory, but the audience is given no signposts to follow the story, writes Carly Maga.

Four shows to see at the SummerWorks Performance Festival by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

A kindler, gentler season is announced at the Coal Mine Theatre by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

People want to come to the theatre to feel safe, says co-artistic director Diana Bentley.

Music adds punch to A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Bard’s Bus Tour by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The music gives Shakespeare’s text that extra flair that is a Driftwood Theatre signature, but the commentary on our social-media, phone-obsessed culture feels shoehorned in, writes Carly …

The Cold Record is punchy, punk-rock and passionate — but I won’t spoil the secret by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The Second Woman sees actress tackle the same scene 100 times over 24 hours by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Laara Sadiq co-star in the marathon event is 100 amateurs, rotated in over the course of a full day at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre.

Shaw’s Brigadoon just the latest darker reinterpretation of a classic musical by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

New staging of Lerner & Loewe show follows more troubling takes on Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady and more.

This Much Ado About Nothing gives Shakespeare a 1990s romcom sensibility by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

By setting the comedy in Ontario cottage country in 1999, director Liza Balkan helps us digest some story elements that don’t fit with 2019 sensibilities, writes Carly Maga.

The Tape Escape’s retro delights are in the details and dilemmas by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

There may not be much time to contemplate the show’s meaning, but there are plenty of fun surprises and challenges in show mounted in old Bloor St. video store.

This year’s Toronto Fringe Festival has a Filipino flavour by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Annual fest includes the Filipinx shows Through the Bamboo, Tita Jokes and Monica vs. the internet, while Kanto by Tita Flips will serve food at the festival hub.

Remembering the Winnipeg General honours an important part of history by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike shut down the entire city’s economy with 30,000 workers refusing to work from May 15 to June 26, arguing for recognition of the labour union and for wages …

Shaw’s Glass Menagerie spies something new in Tennessee Williams classic by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

In an exciting experiment, Berczes’s production wonders what would happen if Tom’s introduction wasn’t an explanation of the rules of the game, but a man’s — and an artist’s — …

Here’s why the deaf musical The Black Drum is an achievement worth applauding by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

As a hearing theatregoer, Carly Maga was put off-kilter by the musical, performed entirely in American Sign Language, but The Black Drum has other offerings for nondeaf patrons apart from it…

Factory Theatre combines past and future in 50th anniversary season by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Artistic director Nina Lee Aquino resurrects theatre pieces emblematic of past Factory leaders and connect them with contemporary artists of colour, writes Carly Maga.

Here’s why classic theatre like The Horse and His Boy and The Front Page needs a helping hand by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The Shaw and Stratford festivals have been busy adapting the C.S. Lewis story and the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur comedy for modern audiences, writes Carly Maga.

Nathan the Wise still works as an argument for religious tolerance by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Part of the reason that Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s 1779 play still resonates is that it resists the impulse to make its characters unrealistic moral symbols, writes Carly Maga.

Stratford’s The Neverending Story is a glitter thrill ride that spotlights its own shortcomings by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The script assumes an audience will be so familiar with the story from the novel that what unfolds is like a play in the form of a connect-the-dots drawing, writes Carly Maga.

Mother’s Daughter is a compelling exploration of sexuality and power by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Playwright and director counter the story’s darkness with a strong sense of humour that runs throughout.

Four Sisters at Luminato plays with time and delivers some hope by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The culmination of Susanna Fournier’s Empire Trilogy gives up control (narratively, physically, historically) to restore a bit of hope to a dark world, writes Carly Maga.

Monday Nights teams basketball and drama by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The 6th Man Collective, whose weekly basketball games have grown into an interactive play that weaves the sport with their personal stories, are happy to have their performance come in confl…

Drowsy Chaperone creator Bob Martin heads back to the Tonys with The Prom by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Canadian Martin co-authored the book for The Prom, about four out-of-work Broadway stars confronting homophobia in a small Indiana town.

Strong ensemble cast keeps Stratford’s The Merry Wives of Windsor from wearing out its welcome by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Shakespeare’s prank-filled comedy is chockablock with gags with diminishing returns, but Antoni Cimolino swaddles the characters with empathy, writes Carly Maga.

Little Shop of Horrors is a reminder and an escape from the real horrors of the world by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

There are many metaphors you can lay overtop the parable of a man-eating plant manipulating a meek flower shop clerk into feeding it corpses in exchange for the love of his co-worker.

Private Lives is artificially sweet — and delightful by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Fun new Stratford production of Noel Coward classic doesn’t underline the camp qualities, but they’re amply present, all the same.

When Billy Elliot called, Nolen Dubuc’s whole family leapt by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The young actor’s parents and two brothers moved from Vancouver to Ontario for a year so he could star in Billy Elliot the Musical at the Stratford Festival.

Aislinn Rose is new artistic and general director of the Theatre Centre by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

Organization’s former creative producer follows in footsteps of her mentor Franco Boni.

Here’s how you do August: Osage County. Soulpepper team keeps it burning like a sparkler by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

If you didn’t enjoy the film adaptation, it’s likely because it sapped any hint of Tracy Letts’ humour. In the Soulpepper version, the laughs keep you chugging along and then the drama…

Shaw Festival’s Getting Married offers a fun respite from the question: To marry or not to marry by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The first act of Bernard Shaw’s play bounces along with the charm of the cast, although the second act loses steam, writes Carly Maga.

Shaw Festival gives us a romantic Brigadoon with a dose of reality by Carly Maga - Theatre Critic

The Shaw production of the Lerner and Loewe musical has an updated book but still relishes the Golden Age excess of the music and dancing, writes Carly Maga.