by Colin Thomas | Jul 8, 2025 | Review
This Bard on the Beach production of Much Ado About Nothing explains ideas that don’t need explaining and misses ideas that should be obvious. The script is about the cruelty of patriarchal gender dynamics. In the central story, Beatrice and Benedick, who are...
by Colin Thomas | Jun 6, 2025 | Review
Mediocre skills and a terrible concept do not make for a fun night at the circus. In HAUS of YOLO, which was created by a New Zealand company called The Dust Palace, four acrobats venture into the world of fast fashion — very fast: the acrobats launch the show in...
by Colin Thomas | May 31, 2025 | Review
Because theatre has so many moving parts, several of which are moving actors, who come complete with independent sensibilities, stylistic adventure in the theatre is a dangerous game: if you don’t get all those moving parts coordinated, the show will crash in...
by Colin Thomas | May 24, 2025 | Review
The pay-off is great. A solo show — and memoir — written and performed by Michelle Thrush, who’s Cree, Inner Elder is about the artist’s journey towards self-realization as an Indigenous woman. Raised mostly by her dad, Thrush felt an absence where she wanted her...
by Colin Thomas | May 17, 2025 | Review
It’s very well intentioned, maybe even moderately helpful — and a total wank. In Meeting, playwright Katherine Gauthier invites us to observe a meeting of Co-Dependents and Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, but what she shows us is completely unrealistic — more about...
by Colin Thomas | May 16, 2025 | Review
If you don’t have a Tony and Maria, you don’t have a West Side Story. This CTORA production has both — in spades. And a lot more. Although it’s semi-professional, under the direction of Chris Adams, this is a startlingly strong mounting of one of the most breathtaking...
