Yellow Fever: oddly conceived, well performed
There’s some very nice work in the Firehall Art Centre’s production of Yellow Fever, but, under Donna Spencer’s direction, the production always feels slightly out of focus. Rick Shiomi’s film-noir style script is about Sam Shikaze, a classically hardboiled detective...
The Mountaintop: thrilling peaks (and some valleys)
For me, the doorway to this production didn’t open until about halfway through. At that point, it became transcendent — intermittently. By the end, I was moved. In Katori Hall’s 2009 script, she imagines Martin Luther King Jr. in his motel room on April 3, 1968, the...
Lampedusa: More realistic hope might be more robust
This isn’t going to be a popular opinion, but I think Lampedusa is naïve. That said, it’s about important things and it’s getting a handsome production from Pi Theatre. In his script, playwright Anders Lustgarten weaves together two narratively unrelated monologues....
Himmat: compassionate storytelling — that could go deeper
There are significant successes in Gavan Cheema’s Himmat — and there’s room for improvement as this young playwright moves forward. So, yeah, this review is going to be celebratory — and a little teachy. You’ve been warned. The script’s greatest gift is compassion....
Invisible: Or just empty?
Get a writer already. Jesus. The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare is gobsmackingly well designed by Brette Gerecke and you could hardly ask for a more talented or committed cast. But Jonathan Christensen’s script for this musical is a disaster. Virtually...
White Noise: my contribution
White Noise is just another pop culture, truth-and-reconciliation comedy: same old, same old ... I’m kidding! How many of those have you seen? Taran Kootenhayoo’s White Noise is completely frickin’ original. It has a vision. And it comes with the slap of urgency. When...
‘da Kink in my Hair: admittedly, not MY hair
There are reviews I’ve been more eager to write. ‘Da Kink in my Hair is almost entirely about the experience of Black Canadian women. I’m a white guy — and I don’t think this musical is well constructed. So boo hoo me; or shut up me: I get the legitimacy of both...
Collected Stories doesn’t ask a hard question
It’s impossible to talk about this script in a meaningful way without revealing its central twist. I hope to talk about it in a meaningful way, so … you’ve been warned Written by Donald Margulies and premiered in 1996, Collected Stories asks a question I already know...
In Wonderland — some of the time
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show that’s run so hot and cold. There are elements and passages in Alberta Theatre Projects’ In Wonderland that are transporting — and long stretches in which nothing fires. In this two-act adventure, playwright Anna Cummer offers a...
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