Theatre Reviews

Walter Borden’s The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time is a retrospective of the veteran actor’s life, and a reason to smile

Slow-burning Topdog/Underdog plays a complex riff on race and masculinity like a quietly haunting blues

Six reigns supreme with long-awaited Toronto arrival

Love’s Labour’s Lost at Stratford is something to savour, much like a guilty pleasure dating reality show

The Waltz is a beautifully crafted romance that reflects Canada’s tapestry of cultures

Les Belles-Soeurs is funny, poignant yet never sentimental

Frankenstein revival recounts gothic tale sometimes credited as having invented science fiction

Forgotten for a century, rediscovered play The Shadow of a Doubt mixes melodrama and satire

Stirring Amen Corner at Shaw Festival tests theatrical faith

Soulpepper’s Detroit: Music of the Motor City drives home its message

Women of the Fur Trade’s historical satire exposes women behind Riel rebellions

With Wedding Band, Stratford Festival uncovers potential new classic

The Effect is a cerebral play that’s easy to admire but difficult to love

The Shaw Festival’s Game of Love and Chance is a delightful experiment in improv

Hadestown is a triumphant, timely retelling of an age-old myth

Shaw Festival’s ghostly revival of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit lacks spark

Village Wooing and Mother, Daughter experiment on, rather than with, the Shaw Festival’s audiences

The Playboy of the Western World won’t cause (or be) a riot at the Shaw Festival, but it still has an edge

The Apple Cart rocks at the Shaw Festival with Tom Rooney as a magnetic King Magnus

Stratford Festival production of Richard II is bold and brash, but not-quite-fully realized

Stratford Festival’s brief stage adaptation A Wrinkle in Time will leave kids wanting more - which is not a complaint

‘Exhilarating’ performance of Romeo and Juliet at the National Ballet of Canada

Stratford Festival: Much Ado About Nothing is really something else with a little Shields added to the Shakespeare

No Save Points merges memoir with video game technology

Treemonisha achieves sonic unity by bridging the old and the new

Apartheid-era play Sizwe Banzi Is Dead asks how we preserve our true selves

Grand Magic: Third time’s the charm for Antoni Cimolino and Eduardo De Filippo at the Stratford Festival

Pomegranate at the Canadian Opera Company Theatre reminds us how history can repeat itself

Kelly v. Kelly is a swift-moving musical triumph

Rock musical Rent resurrected in a loving production to convert the skeptics at Stratford Festival

Stratford Festival’s AIDS drama Casey and Diana is a moving celebration of women who choose compassion over fear

Serviceable Spamalot a sign of a Stratford Festival failing in quest to find a higher musical-theatre purpose