Blind Date: all dates should include this much kindness
Watching Blind Dateis so much like falling in love that it feels a bit like the real thing is happening. The concept for the show is fantastic. Rebecca Northan had the idea nine years ago and the performance I saw on Wednesday night was number 712. In the hetero form...
Hir: rhymes with “here”, as in “here and now”
Taylor Mac’s Hir celebrates diversity while simultaneously exposing the underside of identity politics. And it’s a comedy, although its humour is dark—like blood-encrusted dark. A US Marine named Isaac comes home after three years of overseas duty. He’s been working...
Soul Samurai: enough with the backstory already
Before the show, a company member from Soul Samurai lets everybody know that there’s a crisis line that audience members can call if they find anything too upsetting. The script is so awful I very nearly dialed it up. And, in one significant way, this production makes...
Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Send your regrets.
Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley is going to do very well at the box office—but not because it’s good. Co-written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, the play is a sequel to Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice. With her husband, the dashing Darcy, Lizzy now...
Mortified: smells like teen girl spirit
This might seem like an odd thing to say but, to me, Mortified feels whole and perfect in the same way that a body can feel whole and perfect: it’s just that organic, sensual—and complicated. And, like being embodied, Mortified is more than a touch surreal. Playwright...
The Enemy…is too easy to spot
God save good art from simplistic politics. Donna Spencer has adapted Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, which premiered in 1882, to create The Enemy—and by “adapted” I mean “shrunk”. In Ibsen’s story, Dr. Stockmann, the medical officer for a new spa in southern...
Beautiful: the Carole King Musical is solid jukebox—and that’s okay by me
There are only about fifteen minutes of plot in Beautiful: the Carole King Musical: it’s more of a themed concert than a musical play. And the rotation of hits is relentless. But the songs are fantastic and the production is as slick as can be. The set-up is simple....
Bacio Rosso: what price entertainment?
There’s some good fun to be had at Bacio Rosso, the cabaret circus that’s playing in a tent in Queen Elizabeth Park. But you have to pay for your fun in more ways than one. I’ve never been to an event like Bacio Rosso before. It’s more intimate than some circus-style...
Three Winters: my chilly response
There seem to be at least a couple of good stories in the source material for Three Winters, but writer and director Amiel Gladstone hasn’t figured out how to tell them. Gladstone based Three Winters on his grandfather’s memories of being a prisoner of war in Stalag...
Subscribe Free!
Sign up for the FRESH SHEET newsletter and get curated local, national, and international arts coverage — all sorts of arts — every week.
Contact
Drop a line to colinthomas@telus.net.
Support
FRESH SHEET, the reviews and FRESH SHEET, the newsletter are available free. But writing them is a full-time job and arts criticism is in peril. Please support FRESH SHEET by sending an e-transfer to colinthomas@telus.net or by becoming a patron on Patreon.
Website by Mighty Sparrow Design.