Welcome to the inaugural episode of the DARTcritics Presents: Two Peas in a Podcast! This podcast explores topics, themes, trends, conventions, and tropes in theatre and performance through the context of specific productions. In this first episode, hosts Mae and Andria – theatre critics and Brock University Dramatic A…

Emma McCormick and Kristina Ojaperv write, A technical rehearsal for a show with no lighting design is definitely not your typical tech. Our next rehearsal visit is during the series of technical and dress rehearsals, in the final days before This Will Be Excellent’s first performance. These rehearsals, however, operat…

Welcome to the first post in our blog series on the Brock University Dramatic Arts winter mainstage production of Top Girls! Written in 1982 by Caryl Churchill and directed for DART by faculty member Danielle Wilson, Top Girls is an exploration of and critical look at women and their relationships to power and success.…

The DARTcritics class of 2018 share their thoughts on Jordan Tannahill’s newest play Declarations, a post-dramatic exploration of grief that premiered at Toronto’s Canadian Stage in January: Catherine Tait writes, How does one approach the imminent loss of a parent? In the case of Jordan Tannahill the answers are exqui…

Emma McCormick and Kristina Ojaperv write… While a vision may look good in theory, it is how the cast and creative team build a show in rehearsal which gives that vision substance. On January 25th and 31st, we attended rehearsals of This Will be Excellent after meeting with director Erin Brubacher. Rehearsals take plac…

For their first review of 2018, the DARTcritics class attended Matt MacKenzie’s Bears, a co-production between Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts and Punctuate! Theatre, in association with Native Earth Performing Arts at The Theatre Centre in Toronto. MacKenzie’s dark comedy is both an exploration of Indigenous cosmol…

Emma McCormick and Kristina Ojaperv write, As our journey into the evolving form of embedded criticism begins, we feel the title of Jordi Mand’s new work sums up our first impressions – This Will Be Excellent. Embedded criticism provides an inside look at the process of a show’s creation, through discussing the initial…

For their final review of the term, the DARTcritics class take on The National Theatre’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, playing at Mirvish’s Princess of Wales Theatre. The acclaimed production may have won both Olivier and Tony Awards, but our critics have more mixed reviews: Abigail B…

Essential Collective Theatre (ECT) is a St Catharines staple. Their latest production, The Welland Canal Play, takes another local icon as its subject matter, tracing the complex and contentious history of the Welland Canal’s construction. Here, critics Sumer Seth and Kristina Ojaperv share their thoughts: Sumer Seth w…

In October, the DARTcritics class of 2017/18 saw the Shaw Festival’s production of Alan Bennett’s 1994 historical dramedy The Madness of George III. Cue an impassioned discussion about madness and metatheatricality:  Colin Williams writes, As I enter the auditorium of the Royal George Theatre, I am immediately whisked…