Of all the shows that are on right now, The Aliens is the one to catch
This production of Annie Baker’s The Aliens is one of the best shows of the season. Go see it. I love virtually everything about it and the tickets only cost seventeen bucks. Baker’s script is exquisite. In it, Jasper and KJ, a couple of slackers, hang out in the...
Sleeping Beauty Dreams is a bit of a snooze—for this adult at least
The best fairytales don’t explain themselves or make arguments. They speak the more compelling and flexible language of symbolism. Unfortunately, Sleeping Beauty Dreams reinvents the Sleeping Beauty story as a rational thesis. In Amaranta Leyva’s version of the tale,...
Topdog/Underdog: How does this American play about race resonate on Canada’s West Coast?
Big chunks of this play about African-American despair are boring. Said the white critic. In Suzan-Lori Parks’s Topdog/Underdog, brothers Lincoln and Booth—their father gave them their names as a joke—share a single room. The toilet is down the hall. There is no...
Reassembled, Slightly Askew is deeply weird—and generous
Reassembled, Slightly Askew provoked one of the most intense theatrical experiences I’ve had: deeply disorienting, often frightening. Was it worth it? Probably. Written and produced by Shannon Yee, Reassembled, Slightly Askew explores Yee’s experience of acquired...
The Events will keep you riveted
I suspect that, on some level, many liberal Westerners are experiencing a more or less perpetual state of grief and dread. Donald Trump is in the White House. Institutions including the press and democracy itself are being eroded. On the political right wing and on...
Black Boys brings it home
It gets better. And I don’t mean that in the Dan Savage your-miserable-queer-adolescence-can-turn-into-a-happy-queer-adulthood sense. I mean Black Boys starts haltingly but hits a solid and satisfying groove. In Black Boys, three men explore what it means to them to...
Above the Hospital: millennial angst, some promising writing, and one excellent performance
Above the Hospital is kind of like a rummage sale: there are treasures on offer, but you’ve got to sift through some junk to get to them. This new script, which was written and directed by Beau Han Bridge, is about the confusion and despondency some millennials seem...
Hot Brown Honey starts hot then cools
Hot Brown Honey is a spectacularly well designed feminist pep rally. Over a span of 75 minutes, six Australian women of colour take on sexism, racism, and colonialism one vaudevillian act at a time. Tristan Shelly’s set is phenomenal. It’s shaped like a beehive with...
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: children’s theatre can do better
During the holiday season, adults are eager to take the kids in their lives to the theatre. That lovely human impulse should be rewarded with first-rate art. Unfortunately, Carousel Theatre for Young People’s production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is only...
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