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“The magic of theatre” – a common descriptor of productions and a personal favourite explanation as to why I love the arts. Theatre has an ability to compel with such a force that the result is sometimes unexplainable. Whether it be the lights, the performers, or the set, when a world onstage is created that presents m…

Watching Glory Die is a call to action. Judith Thompson’s play is based on the true events surrounding the death of Ashley Smith, a teenage inmate at Kitchener’s Grand Valley Institution. If you’ve heard of the tragic story, you’ll know that after an exceedingly long period in solitary confinement, Smith strangled hers…

Sometimes, what you really need is to see grown adults dressed as turkeys dancing with pilgrims. It’s good for the soul. As is the rest of Holiday Inn – a feel-good Christmas-y musical now playing at the Shaw Festival for the holiday season. Based on the 1942 movie starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, Holiday Inn is…

If you love your theatre dark, shocking, and emotionally raw, but still want to have the occasional laugh, then Cliff Cardinal’s Huff is for you. Be aware that it is incredibly disturbing, but also very powerful. The play has been touring for over seven years and 200 performances and won the Dora Mavor Moore awards for…

“Issues of power and privilege – who has it, who doesn’t have it, how is it shared – aren’t specific to institutions; they are being dealt with daily in the professional arts community too. If honest conversations are had in the community, with the intention of learning and creating safe spaces for everyone, then we ca…

Contemporary theatre companies are making strides in representing individuals whose voices society has tried to silence, especially those who identify as transgender, or don’t identify with a gender at all. Transgender performance artist Travis Alabanza’s one-person show, Burgerz, has been getting rave reviews around E…

Hello DARTcritics readers! Welcome to the first in a series of articles written by myself and my colleague Kristina Ojaperv, about our work following the making of Inferno, a new production by DopoLavoro Teatrale (henceforth DLT). Throughout the coming weeks, we will dive into various areas of interest: the conversatio…

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…

Not just for Sarah, for everyone; The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt is misleading in its title, but moving in its story. Written by Michel Marc Bouchard and developed by Jackie Maxwell for the Shaw Festival, Linda Gaboriau’s English translation of The Divine premieres this season at the Royal George Theatre. Set i…

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…