Nick and Hayley’s open dialogue about Annable Soutar’s newest play The Watershed continues. For those of you who are behind, you can read part one here. Here is Hayley’s response to Nick’s letter. Hi Nick, Thanks for your letter. I like what you have to say about The Watershed’s narrative structure and I agree: what ma…
“This river I step in is not the river I stand in,” postal worker Albert Jackson reads from a sign on his daily route; what feels like a misplaced line of poetry soon sets up an entire performance. The Postman, based on the trials and tribulations of Toronto’s first black postal worker Albert Jackson, is a show that of…
If you hate having fun, don’t go see Much Ado About Nothing by Make Art Theatre at the Hamilton Fringe Festival. This show is stuffed with good times, including villainous capes, ‘50s style greasers, and a really funny bit with some popcorn (spoiler: it ends up all over the floor). A condensed and updated version of Sh…
Advertising versus “humane marketing;” head versus heart; the big city versus the smaller city. Commercials for Hamilton, what are you selling? On the surface Commercials – written and directed by Sky Gilbert – appears to be about two advertising employees (well, one employee and one intern) going head to head about th…
A note from Hayley: Nick and I have wanted to do a joint review for a while now. We were fortunate to both be free last week to see Annabel Soutar’s new piece The Watershed, playing at Canadian Stage as part of PANAMANIA. Keeping in kind with the play itself, which played with the use of Skype, Facebook chat and emails…
On Thursday night a man with beer on his breath tells me about his troubles. Broken hearts, broken bones, burned bridges, and a burning building – in a dimly lit room I hear it all. Gerard Harris is the man in question; I am not his friend, his confidante, or his therapist and neither are any of the other 30 people in…
All aboard the Rukmini’s Gold train, stopping now at the Hamilton Fringe Festival. Their next stop? Perhaps a tune-up at the train yard is in order. Radha S. Menon’s play, winner of the 2015 Toronto Fringe New Play Contest, is playing at Mills Hardware this summer in Hamilton. Presented by Red Betty Theatre and directe…
Walking out of the theatre after seeing Air at the Hamilton Fringe, I hear a woman say “Incredible. It’s just him up there!” While she’s technically correct, and means this as high praise, I have to disagree. True: actor and artistic director of Tottering Biped Theatre Trevor Copp performs solo, with no props or set pi…
“This story is not going to be real, but it’s going to be really felt,” Ravi Jain, Artistic Director of Why Not Theatre, says in a hokey Indian accent, imitating his grandfather. Dropping the accent Jain goes on, “Stories help us discover our future, and connect us to our past.” Gimme Shelter, playing at the Young Cent…
It’s tea time at the Toronto Fringe Festival and James and Jamesy are serving up a delight! High Tea, playing at the Randolph Theatre, features the Vancouver-based clown duo in a zany, imaginative, and fun-filled adventure quite unlike any other tea party. An unlikely pair, the even-keeled and quiet James (Aaron Malkin…
