Hayley Malouin (Jean) and Nicola Franco (Emma). Photos by Kendra Neaves. What do frogs, shoes, veal, and shampoo have in common? Besides the obvious answer (absolutely nothing), they make up some of the hysterical elements of Refraction Theatre Collective’s production of At Wit’s End. Showing at the Robertson Theatre d…

Rarely have I seen such intricacy in the interweaving of artistry and topicality as in the thundering whisper that is Quote Unquote Collective’s Mouthpiece. Playing this weekend at the in the Robertson Theatre as part of St Catharines’ In the Soil Arts Festival, Mouthpiece appears to tell the story of one woman’s attem…

The attraction of the In the Soil Arts Festival is the valuable exposure it provides for local artists and collectives. This weekend, St.Catharines’ very own Twitches & Itches theatre company graces the Robertson Hall stage at the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre for the first time with their new adaptation (by the…

Trophy at Toronto’s Nuit Blanche. For many, the prospect of sharing intimate stories of their life with complete strangers could be daunting — listening to these strangers tell their very personal stories may also fill you with apprehension. Facing this discomfort is the premise of STO Union’s Trophy, playing at the an…

Ben Fallis writes: Poor would be one way to describe Essential Collective Theatre (ECT)’s newest production of the same name, playing at the First Ontario Performing Arts Center. The latest iteration of Suzanne Ristic’s one-woman show starring ECT’s artistic director (and Brock’s own) Monica Dufault and directed by Kar…

Simon (Devin Mackinnon) and Jake (Edmund Stapleton). Photos by Barsin Aghajan. Hannah Anderson writes: Laughing and learning – what more could you want from a children’s show? These are just two things that you will do while watching Carousel Players’ Spelling 2-5-5, directed by Jessica Carmichael, which played in Robe…

That Ugly Mess promotional image from the In the Soil Festival Welcome back, readers! Since we’ve been quiet for quite some time now, we will reintroduce ourselves. We are Raylene Turner, Alex Tomulescu, Jonah McGrath, Heather Allen, and Andrew Von Lukawiecki. For our Theatre Criticism class we are working as embedded…

April 28, 2016 Maria Evers and Michael Fusillo write: We two were granted one last opportunity to visit our friends involved with Mrs. Warren’s Profession. The cast and crew were not called for any work in the Royal George Theatre on that particular day, so the ensemble made use of their Festival Theatre rehearsal spac…

February 22, 2016 Nikka Collison, DJ Johnston, Justin Reesor and Jarrod Vandenbogaerde write: Never underestimate the power of footwork. The beginning of the week of Major Predictions, Barbara workshops was all about table work, and that makes sense given the nature of this project – a staged reading. Much of the work…

February 25, 2016 Caroline Coon, Sarah Bradford, Johnathan Clancy, and Daryl Hunter write: February 16: We entered Robertson Hall in the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre at 7:20pm with excited anticipation. The cue to cue was well underway so we made sure to enter as quietly as possible. This was our first time wit…