Posts by: Karen Fricker

The fourth-year Brock Dramatic Arts course DART 4F56 involves an ensemble of students, led by a faculty director, staging two fully-produced shows in the course of the academic year. In this time like no other, DART 4F56 expertly pivoted in Fall 2020 to stage Jordan Tannahill’s play Concord Floral completely online (th…

It’s been a few weeks since the final performance of Brock University Department of Dramatic Arts’ Fall Mainstage, Scenes from an Execution. Closing off their embedded criticism adventure on the show, DARTcritics Holly Hebert and Asenia Lyall met to talk about how it all went.

Here’s Holly Hebert’s final solo vlog from behind the scenes of the Fall 2020 DART Mainstage, Scenes from an Execution. She and Asenia will round off this coverage with a conversational vlog to be posted soon. (Pictured above: Holly with Neo Moore on the set of the production; photo by Sammie Marett).  …

Holly and Asenia serve up some basic information about what the DART Mainstage production is, and about the play Scenes from an Execution by Howard Barker.

Shaista Latif’s one-person production The Archivist came to St. Catharines as part of a southern Ontario tour in late February, 2020, produced by Why Not Theatre. Via Why Not, Latif reached out to BIPOC in Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts and invited them to respond to the production – one of several recent gestures…

Ravi and Asha Jain Why Not Theatre’s celebrated production, Brimful of Asha, visited the Courthouse Theatre in St. Catharines in late October for one night only, and the DARTcritics were among the lucky few to snatch up tickets (and the snacks that came with them!). Here are two of their reviews:  Jeremy Knapton writes…

NIghy and Mulligan On 23rd October the DARTcritics went to the theatre and the movies — at the same time! Here are several review accounts of the experience of seeing David Hare’s play Skylight via the innovation of NT Live: Alex Jackson writes: True love exists in David Hare’s Skylight, but not a light and fluffy love…

The STRUTT runway appears! DARTcritics Connor Chabot and Alex Franks stopped by the WS Tyler factory last week to see how preparations for STRUTT were coming along. They found that the runway — where all the action happens — was starting to take shape.          Intriguing parts of art works and live acts are starting t…

Set designer Nigel Scott with DARTcritics Natalie Allaire (left), Cole Larson, and Trella Noctor at Carousel Players’ offices in St. Catharines. Photos by Jane Gardner. Natalie Allaire, Cole Larson, and Trella Noctor write: Picture three buildings. The buildings to the left and right are houses, and the center building…

Matthew Olver, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, and Dana Puddicombe in Parents NIght. Photos: Kayla Rocca For the second time this year, leading Canadian playwright George F. Walker has premiered a new work in the Niagara region. Following on from The Ravine, produced by Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects in Niagara Falls in May, CrazyLa…