Posts Tagged ‘St. Catharines’

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…

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…

The DARTcritics class is back in session! Our 25 budding theatre critics tested their critical skills on local St. Catharines company Stolen Theatre Collective’s production of House by Canadian theatre darling Daniel MacIvor. Here’s a taste of what they thought. Welcome, DARTcritics class of 2017/18! Anthes as Victor.…

Despite this being the DARTcritics third year covering the RHIZOMES at the In the Soil Arts Festival, trying to review such a diverse collection of interactive exhibits remains a challenge.  Made up of short performances, art installments, and presentations from local artists — housed for the 2016 festival in the Maril…

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…

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…

February 22, 2016 Nikka Collison, DJ Johnston, Justin Reesor and Jarrod Vandenbogaerde write: Never underestimate the power of footwork. The beginning of the week of Major Predictions, Barbara workshops was all about table work, and that makes sense given the nature of this project – a staged reading. Much of the work…

February 25, 2016 Caroline Coon, Sarah Bradford, Johnathan Clancy, and Daryl Hunter write: February 16: We entered Robertson Hall in the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre at 7:20pm with excited anticipation. The cue to cue was well underway so we made sure to enter as quietly as possible. This was our first time wit…

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…