All posts by S. Bear Bergman

S. Bear Bergman has great faith in the power of theatre to make change, and has been putting his money where his mouth is on that one for some time. A writer, performer, and lecturer, Bear works full time as an artist and cultural worker and loves to see as much live performance as possible – making this a fantastic gig for him.

ONE OF THE GOOD ONES (YX PRODUCTIONS) 2021 TORONTO FRINGE REVIEW

There’s a great pleasure in watching a natural storyteller work. When the stories are related around a theme, they hang together into a show. And when the resulting show hits the overlap of entertainment, education and elucidation, you have One of the Good Ones, a  2021 Toronto Digital Fringe performance written and performed by Yaw Attuah. Continue reading ONE OF THE GOOD ONES (YX PRODUCTIONS) 2021 TORONTO FRINGE REVIEW

Every Young Adult Novel Ever: The Musical (Isolation Creation) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review

For everyone who loves Twilight, The Hunger Games, Divergent and the host of other wildly popular YA trilogies and series comes Every Young Adult Novel Ever: The Musical, a charming, self-aware, little semi-improvised bit of fun playing at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival.

Continue reading Every Young Adult Novel Ever: The Musical (Isolation Creation) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review

Review: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (ShowONE)

Drag Ballet Troupe Treat Toronto With “Particular Pleasures”

Few things are as delightful as accomplished, stylish drag performance, and in an uncertain world, it’s a considerable relief that we can still count on Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo to deliver a flawless, high tone, high-test performance every time. With a well-established repertoire of ballet classics, the venerable all-male comic ballet troupe remains in excellent form.

Continue reading Review: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (ShowONE)

Review: How I Learned To Serve Tea (Progress Festival / Why Not Theatre)

New performance leaves our reviewer “full of questions in the best and most interesting way.”

I find it quite impossible to “review” (in a traditional sense), the performance/workshop/offering of How I Learned To Serve Tea by Shaista Latif,  which I experienced as part of the Progress Festival of Performance and Ideas.

This should not be taken as an indictment of the work, which I found thoroughly nourishing and quite delicious to participate in. Rather, because How I Learned To Serve Tea seems to me far more an Idea than a Performance.

It feels underserved by a traditional review, and so I will instead offer what seems potentially useful: my experience and reflections.

Continue reading Review: How I Learned To Serve Tea (Progress Festival / Why Not Theatre)

Review: Julius Caesar (Groundling Theatre Company and Crow’s Theatre)

A Julius Caesar That Feels Crisp and Alert

After being thrilled to bits by Chris Abraham’s Tartuffe at Canadian Stage, I will tell you truly that I had high expectations for his Julius Caesar at Streetcar Crowsnest. So high, in fact, that to balance my natural enthusiasm I brought a friend who suffers attenuated residual high-school Shakespeare exhaustion and who greeted all my protestations that it would be exciting with a grim “we’ll see.” Let the record show: I was right. This Julius Caesar is fantastic.

Continue reading Review: Julius Caesar (Groundling Theatre Company and Crow’s Theatre)