St.Catharines’ annual In The Soil Arts Festival 2016 was a weekend full of brilliant Canadian talent and a resounding passion for the arts. This year ITS co-produced a one-of-a-kind theatre experience created by DopoLavoro Teatrale (DLT) entitled That Ugly Mess That Happened in St. Catharines. The 72-hour show engages…

Hayley Malouin (Jean) and Nicola Franco (Emma). Photos by Kendra Neaves. What do frogs, shoes, veal, and shampoo have in common? Besides the obvious answer (absolutely nothing), they make up some of the hysterical elements of Refraction Theatre Collective’s production of At Wit’s End. Showing at the Robertson Theatre d…

Rarely have I seen such intricacy in the interweaving of artistry and topicality as in the thundering whisper that is Quote Unquote Collective’s Mouthpiece. Playing this weekend at the in the Robertson Theatre as part of St Catharines’ In the Soil Arts Festival, Mouthpiece appears to tell the story of one woman’s attem…

The attraction of the In the Soil Arts Festival is the valuable exposure it provides for local artists and collectives. This weekend, St.Catharines’ very own Twitches & Itches theatre company graces the Robertson Hall stage at the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre for the first time with their new adaptation (by the…

Ben Fallis writes: Poor would be one way to describe Essential Collective Theatre (ECT)’s newest production of the same name, playing at the First Ontario Performing Arts Center. The latest iteration of Suzanne Ristic’s one-woman show starring ECT’s artistic director (and Brock’s own) Monica Dufault and directed by Kar…

Caroline Coon writes: Photo by Johnny Hockin Stepping into the Dramatic Arts theatre, I didn’t know what to expect; but I certainly didn’t anticipate a show presenting opera, babies, feminism, and machine guns. With a cast of two and a handful of props that can fit into a tiny suitcase, Death Married My Daughter takes…

Chloe Lemay writes: Photos by Kaitlin Abeele For those who have already seen numerous Tottering Biped Theatre (TBT) productions, expectations for The Second Life were high, and it does not disappoint. This is a devised theatre piece that was developed through four years of actor and playwright improvisation. The Second…

Photos by Sandy Fairburn The Tale of a Town- St. Catharines is an interactive and witty production, performed in the heart of St. Catharines at the historic Odd Fellows Hall. It opens viewers’ eyes to all that the downtown core of St. Catharines once was, and encourages them to imagine what it could become. The story f…

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…

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…