Author Archives: strecker

SOULPEPPER THEATER: DEATH OF A SALESMAN

Albert Schultz’s production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is so exquisitely unforced, so subtly true to human desperation, so consistently acted with unfailing integrity by an exemplary cast, that its beauty hurts without relief. As Willy Loman first … Continue reading →

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OPERA HAMILTON: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

Opera Hamilton’s subtly realized and thoroughly entertaining production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro satisfies in so many ways. Right at the outset, the overture is conducted by the much-travelled Gordon Gerrard for a lightness of energy and buoyancy of … Continue reading →

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THREE PLAYS FOR STRATFORD IN AUTUMN

AS YOU LIKE IT (to October 31) Things hang loose in Des McAnuff’s magically conceived Arden where absolutely anything goes. The combo of five swings as they would in a jazz boite, folks pop in and out of song, implied … Continue reading →

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SOULPEPPER THEATRE IN TORONTO 2010

DOC Doc, with Diana Leblanc directing Sharon Pollock’s Canadian classic of 1984, opens like a frenzied Altman film of simultaneous or overlapping words inside a tormented skull. Is this the playwright’s mind to which we are witness? Her characters can’t … Continue reading →

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STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 2010

DO NOT GO GENTLE Back in the 70s, I spent several days in Laugharne in Wales, the setting for Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas. In those days, the poet’s boathouse and writing shed were not open to visitors and peeking … Continue reading →

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SHAW FESTIVAL 2010

SERIOUS MONEY Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money depicts a frenzied and pummeling world of buy and sell, “takeover mania,” and insider deals -with champagne, coke, sex, silk shirts from Jermyn Street, and all else that money can buy as a bonus. … Continue reading →

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Shaw Festival 2010 Reviews

SHAW FESTIVAL 2010 THE CHERRY ORCHARD Under Jason Byrne’s keenly-attuned direction, the lighting of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard is not merely a supportive atmospheric element, but a something of a metaphysical echo to the characters, a narrator of their inner … Continue reading →

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Stratford Shakespeare Festival 2010

STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 2010 EVITA For some, kitsch is the preferred artistic pinnacle of our time and, never fear, Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Evita presents only token cause to fear humanity’s darker side. This creation is made to distract and safely … Continue reading →

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