The second half of our embedding team offers further insight into their visit to The Team‘s rehearsal room. Hazel Adie and Frances Johnson write, “Holy shit! – that’s not the line,” the actor Laura Welch shouts as she starts a run-through of a scene, and the room dissolves into helpless giggles. This moment is one amo…
After interviewing part of creative team for Essential Theatre Collective‘s production of The Team, our five embedders split into two groups to provide a broader range of perspectives and more coverage of the process. Dani Shae Barkley, Jonah Pace, and Kristina Testa write, On the chillyafternoon of March 1st, we appr…
Tarndeep Pannu writes, The DART Mainstage talkback is an integral part of the mandate of our Dramatic Arts degree. It brings the praxis element of theatre, the weaving together of theory and practice, to the fore, so that every student has an opportunity to learn from the theatrical process. Tarndeep Pannu, Karen Frick…
For their final review of the term, the DARTcritics class of 2017-18 caught Machine de Cirque at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. This is the group’s first time reviewing a touring show – and a circus show, to boot. While individual responses varied, none were without passion: Abigail Bloomfield writes, Hugh J…
The DARTcritics class of 2017-18 took on the challenge of reviewing theatre for young people, catching Carousel Player’s production of Jordi Mand’s new play The Will Be Excellent at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, where it performed two public matinees before resuming its tour of elementary schools in Southern…
Emma McCormick and Kristina Ojaperv write, At last, the day for excellence arrives – the first performance of This Will Be Excellent. Arriving at Oakridge Public School early on February 5th, we are excited to see the culmination of the many rehearsals that came before. The show is set up in the gymnasium, with the fin…
It’s been over a week since Essential Collective Theatre’s world premiere of Our Lady of Delicias opened at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre and I’m still bumping into people buzzing about it. Politically charged, hilariously delivered, and satisfyingly ambiguous, it’s a play that sparks discussion, discussion t…
“You know theatre. The lights, the sound, the spectacle. When you take your seat in the auditorium, no matter the size, you know you’re in for a treat. Audiences come from far and wide to be whisked away into thrilling tales of love, drama, comedy, and more. We come for what’s on stage, but what we don’t get to see is…
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…
