Modern Times and Crow’s Theatre present a minimalist take on a Chekhov classic in Toronto

Playing at the Streetcar Crowsnest in the Toronto east end, The Cherry Orchard is a story about one aristocratic family’s struggle with transition. It was written by Anton Chekhov in 1903, just one year before his death. It was his last play.

Headed by a Russian matriarch Lyubov (Arsinee Khanjian), a family is at risk of losing their estate due to bad debts. Like Lyubov, her brother Leonid Gayev (Cliff Saunders) doesn’t have much of a head for business and is unable to find a proper solution to their property woes.

Continue reading Review: The Cherry Orchard (Modern Times Stage Company and Crow’s Theatre) →

Toronto theatre artist Johnnie Walker debuts his new play based on a true criminal case

It was an initial whiff of injustice—a gay man wrongly imprisoned for defending himself—that sparked Toronto-based theatre artist Johnnie Walker into action. The playwright spent years investigating a complex criminal case and processing his findings into a new play, Shove It Down My Throat, now playing at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

True Crime is a genre that has seen a surge in popularity in recent years. Podcasts like Serial, Atlanta Monster, and CBC’s own Someone Knows Something, all roughly follow the same formula of unpacking a historical crime and examining it from multiple angles in hopes of drawing new and interesting conclusions. Shove It Down My Throat borrows heavily from that formula but Walker puts a spin on it by examining his subject through a queer lens. Continue reading Review: Shove It Down My Throat (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre/Pandemic Theatre) →

Intimate, thought-provoking biography of Shakespeare performs in east-end Toronto

After 400-odd years, we have a new Shakespearean play, thanks to Now I Am Dead Productions‘ innovative approach to The Bard’s work. Based on his writings and the (albeit limited) records of his life, this Toronto-based company present a new tragicomedy about the man behind many plays we now call classic.

The Most Humourous and Tragic Tale of William Shakespeare’s Shakespeare is a pseudohistorical drama that strips away the legacy and accolades of the playwright and looks at his life through lenses such as friend, lover, husband and father. In particular, the story is based on his creative process in staging Taming of the Shrew, his courtship of Anne Hathaway, and the deaths of loved ones such as his son Hamnet and his friendly rival Christopher Marlowe.

Continue reading Review: William Shakespeare’s Shakespeare (Now I Am Dead Productions) →

A fascinating, keenly-observed new play by Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman is now on stage in Toronto

“What do you like?” Bubbly inmate Britt (Virgilia Griffith) asks this of wary new transfer Sid (Vivien Endicott-Douglas) in the first moments of Guarded Girls, by Governor General Literary Award-nominee Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, now playing at the Tarragon Extraspace in association with Green Light Arts. Nineteen-year-old Sid, who has been bounced around from prison to prison for her aggressive behaviour, likes cramming packs of gum into her mouth, long-necked giraffes, and pretending to be other people. It’s better than being herself.

Continue reading Review: Guarded Girls (Tarragon Theatre/Green Light Arts) →