Monthly Archives: August 2011

The Homecoming presents a familial battleground in which conversation is a slew of verbal attacks and counter attacks. The family members, all male, are bound in toleration of one another. They sit apart like persons made of human debris. Conversations … Continue reading →

At the outset of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the music track – Monk, Bird et al- seems to sweat within Sue Lepage’s  evocative, domineering, asymmetrical, and life-worn set.  And so does Moya O’Connell’s Maggie who, kept at a … Continue reading →

Lorne Kennedy as Norrison declares, “I look forward to shutting off my brain,” but we then notice that most brains don’t function as fast as his Norrison speaks in The President. He takes enunciation and cadences at illegal speeds, even … Continue reading →

  The Arts, in the person of travelling theatrical actors doing their society-shaking repertoire, have upset the status quo in the Irish seaside town of Inish. The acting is “too good” and now “queer things are happening” as a result … Continue reading →

Nigel Shawn Williams and Claire Jullien in Candida. Whom will Candida choose?  The strong or the weak?  The Reverend James Morell, played by Nigel Shawn Williams, speaks in a firm authoritative voice that intends to “make the kingdom of heaven … Continue reading →

The shipwreck that deposits both upper and serving classes onto a remote island changes everything, of course. But at the outset of J.M. Barrie’s The Admirable Crichton, we have pampered, wearisome, and condescending upper classes doing pointless lives. Yes, the … Continue reading →

After the initial brief London run in 1933, Shaw’s On the Rocks was rarely produced in either Britain or North America. In director Joesph Ziegler’s crisp production, it is a play that is entertaining, provocative -but not as much as … Continue reading →

Cara Ricketts as Maria in Twelfth Night In the lobby of the Festival Theatre, the lightly swinging jazz duo of Don Englert on alto sax and Michael Wood on vibes plays on as we are eased, with the welcome and … Continue reading →

In John Mighton’s The Little Years, Irene Poole’s performance as Kate is a haunting creation. Kate has lost the spark she once had, doesn’t say very much except for occasional terse comments spoken with blunt objectivity, and seems a frozen … Continue reading →