by Colin Thomas | Jul 19, 2024 | Review
Measure for Measure is about brutal sexual coercion. But, in his adaptation, director Jivesh Parasram frames the play as broad comedy — and he thinks he’s doing abuse survivors a favour. In the story, Duke Vincenzio is concerned about the number of brothels in Vienna...
by Colin Thomas | Jul 12, 2024 | Review
Watching this production of The Comedy of Errors is kind of like waiting in a two-hour lineup for a 15-minute ride. The show doesn’t really pay off until the very end. Before that, it burbles along pleasantly enough, but it’s weirdly shapeless. So what’s going on? A...
by Colin Thomas | Jun 25, 2024 | Review
Clarity is both the blessing and the curse of director Stephen Drover’s production of Hamlet — mostly the blessing. I was grateful to have some parts of the story more clearly defined than they’ve ever been for me. But it’s also important to remember that the play is...
by Colin Thomas | Jun 22, 2024 | Review
A couple of hours before the lights went up on this Bard on the Beach production of Twelfth Night, Kate Besworth got the call that she’d be going on as Viola: Camille Legg, who is cast in the role, has been laid low by a nasty bug. Besworth is the understudy for...
by Colin Thomas | Aug 25, 2023 | Review
Presales for Goblin:Macbeth were so strong that Bard on the Beach extended the show’s run before it opened. But Goblin:Macbeth is a waste of time. I understand the initial excitement. I shared it. The idea of goblins (weird and fantastical) performing Macbeth (dark...