Director Peter Hinton knows how to walk the walk when it comes to revitalizing George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion for modern audiences, and his stellar ensemble knows how to talk the talk. Eliza Dolittle (Harveen Sandu) displays her lower social class standing with terrible pronunciation and articulation that Henry Higgin…

A corporate executive, a female pope, a 13th Century Japanese concubine, a warrior peasant, a turn-of-the-century world traveler, and an obedient Renaissance wife sit down to dinner.  The ensuing conversation is the iconic set up for Caryl Churchill’s feminist examination, Top Girls, playing this season at the Shaw Fes…

Three years ago, my friend and occasional director Keavy Lynch, artistic director at Empty Box Theatre Company, texted me saying she needed actors for a directing class assignment, and that she had “dibsed” me. That was my first encounter with the world of Waiting For Alonzo and my character, Bielke. It was a different…

One of the best parts about covering the St. Catharines theatre scene is being able to see both the germination of a production and the work of friends and colleagues at the same time. When Essential Collective Theatre popped up on Facebook with a new show titled Senior Stories and a list of senior citizens homes they…

Murder and madness should be the political playwright’s playground. Unfortunately, the world premiere of Michael Healey’s Canadian adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Physicists at the Stratford Festival fails to excavate the rich material at its disposal to its fullest potential. Originally written following the…

Chris Abraham returns to Stratford’s Festival Theatre with another unique take on one of Shakespeare’s classics. After witnessing cross-gender casting and queer romances in Chris’ interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream last year, I phoned him up to get the 411 on his new production of The Taming of the Shrew. Mean…

She Stoops to Conquer is a stellar success at the Stratford Festival. Opening on June 4, Oliver Goldsmith’s classic comedy is brought to life for contemporary audiences by director Martha Henry and her tremendously talented cast, who tell the story of genuine characters in an outrageous world. Goldsmith’s comedy is set…

Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew presents a delicate decision for directors of our time to make: either condone the inherent sexism and celebration of male-dominance in the text or condemn it. This season at Stratford’s Festival Theatre, director Chris Abraham has taken a third option; he has chosen to ignore it.…

Lady from The Sea by Henrik Ibsen plays at the Shaw Festival this season, reminding audiences of a type of love that is all consuming, just like the open ocean. As the titular character, Moya O’Connell captures the very essence of that once familiar feeling of lovers gone by. Jenny Hval and Susanna’s “I Have Walked Thi…

While DARTcritic Elizabeth is a set of fresh eyes on Peter and the Starcatcher, other DARTcritics have been embedded in the piece throughout its rehearsal process. You can read their pieces here. Peter Pan may long to stay forever young, but Rick Elice’s Peter and the Starcatcher has some growing up to do. Playing this…