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Posts Filed Under: arts

The Best of the Next Stage Theatre Festival

There's nearly a week left in the Next Stage Theatre Festival, and 10 shows chosen to represent the best in Canadian indie theatre. Here are the standouts.

By Carly Maga and Steve Fisher

An innocent kiss at a party leads to imprisonment in Loving The Stranger or Recognizing the Invert. Detail of a photo by Alistair Newton.
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What to See at the Next Stage Theatre Festival

The festival starts tomorrow night, and these are the shows we're most excited to check out.

By Carly Maga and Steve Fisher

Simon Bracken and Leah Doz in Tomasso's Party, the first play from author Jules Lewis.

A Chilly Reception

Theatre director Jennifer Brewin hopes to get Torontonians out of their comfort zone and into the seasonal tradition of outdoor winter theatre.

By Carly Maga • Photo by Nancy Paiva

Jennifer Brewin has gotten intimate with the Evergreen Brick Works.
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Ford Drops the Cannonball in The Nutcracker

This past weekend, Mayor Rob Ford made his stage debut at the National Ballet of Canada. But we ask, is he playing nice so companies will play it safe?

By Carly Maga

Rob Ford and his costar, Councillor Michelle Berardinetti. A regular Baryshnikov!

Not a Walk in the Park

Optic Heart's Crush takes audiences into the barren landscape of an Ontario trailer park, with events you wouldn't believe—if they weren't based on real life.

By Carly Maga

Courtney Lyons (Sandra), Julian DeZotti (Martin), and Ryan Kelly (Ronny) turn the four walls of their trailers into one heck of a triangle.

Jesus Chrysler Needs a Sparkplug

Praxis Theatre's latest production tells the important but mostly unknown story of radical theatremakers in the 1930s, but gets lost in romanticism and a unique set design.

By Carly Maga

Nate (Jeffrey Wetsch) gets the spark going for Jim (Margaret Evans) in Jesus Chrysler. Photo by Will O'Hare.
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Against the Odds at the Fringe Lottery

Over 300 Ontario theatre companies, from the fledgling to the famous, played their odds in the 2012 Toronto Fringe Festival Lottery.

By Carly Maga

Gideon Arthurs addresses his audience of potential Fringers.
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This Isn’t Child’s Play

The Children's Republic tackles tough subjects with some young faces.

By Carly Maga

Amy Rutherford, Peter Hutt, Mark Correia, Katie Frances Cohen, Emma Burke-Kleinman, and Elliot Larson in The Children's Republic. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

King is King

VideoCabaret's The Life and Times of Mackenzie King is a black-box experience, exploding with colourful costumes and technical tricks, that presents Canadian history saturated in satire.

By Carly Maga

The cast of The Life and Times of Mackenzie King. Photo by Michael Cooper.
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Ride the Cyclone Brings Musical Theatre to New Heights

Back in Toronto after a hit run at 2010's SummerWorks Festival, this roller coaster of a show proves it can ride along with the pros.

By Carly Maga

The cast of Ride the Cyclone dances their way through disaster. Photo by Fairen Berchard.

Imprints Leaves a Mark

Theatre Gargantua showcases physicality, visual tricks, and hereditary horrors in its new production.

By Carly Maga

Stephanie Belding and and Michael Spence in Theatre Gargantua's world premiere of IMPRINTS. Photo by Michael Cooper.
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Arrezted Development

Factory Theatre stages a rare but uneven production of Tomson Highway's The Rez Sisters.

By Carly Maga

(L to R) Pamela Sinha, Cara Gee, Jean Yoon, Billy Merasty, Jani Lauzon, Djennie Laguerre, Michaela Washburn & Kyra Harper. Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh.
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Tiny Dancers and Larger-Than-Life Theatrics in Love Lies Bleeding

Alberta Ballet's show based on the music of Elton John and Bernie Taupin delivers on glitz and glamour but has little depth.

By Carly Maga

Baseball has never looked so fabulous. Yukichi Hattori as Elton Fan and the chrous of Love Lies Bleeding. Photo courtesy of the Alberta Balllet.

Testing the Boundaries

As the first of three co-productions between Canadian Stage and The Company Theatre, The Test puts both the actors and the audience to, well, the test.

By Carly Maga

Philip Riccio as Franzeck and Eric Peterson as Simon have their Daddy issues put to The Test. Photo by Guntar Kravis.

Toronto’s Fanciest Movie Theatre

As a new treat for Toronto Halloweeners, the TSO turned Roy Thomson Hall into the city's newest participatory movie theatre, complete with popcorn, shouting, and even annoying viewers on their phones.

By Carly Maga

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra sends Dorothy home from the Emerald City behind her (courtesy of some green lights and a pipe organ). Photo by Dale Wilcox.

Plenty of Skeletons in Ghosts

Henrik Ibsen's controversial classic gets a bleak translation at Soulpepper, so dark it sometimes gets murky.

By Carly Maga

Michelle Monteith as Regine, Nancy Palk as Mrs. Alving, and Gregory Prest as Oswald Alving in are caught up in some messy family ties. Photo by Sian Richards.

We’re Still Not Completely Sold

HARDSELL 2.0 is a totally revamped version of Rick Miller's 2009 show exploring the pervasiveness of marketing and advertising. Unfortunately, this pitch still has a few holes.

By Carly Maga

Rick Miler splits himself into the righteous optimist and the outspoken cynic in HARDSELL 2.o. Photo by Michael Cooper.

Praise Jesus

Rick Miller continues his solo show three-peat with Bigger Than Jesus, a show worthy of resurrection.

By Carly Maga

Rick Miller - a Savior for the digital age. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

The Not-So-Merry Maids

An ambitious season opener, artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Brendan Healy barely misses a spot in this queer theatre classic.

By Carly Maga

If good help is hard to find, a good mistress is even worse. Diane D'Aquila (Solange) and Ron Kennell (Claire) in The Maids. Photo by Jeremy Mimnaugh.
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The Nuit Blanche Curators, In Conversation

The three curators of Nuit Blanche explain the methods behind our meandering.

By Carly Maga

Yonge Street was more like Nuit Violet at last year's Nuit Blanche. Photo by {a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcronin/5045872675/”}Dan Cronin^{/a} from the {a href=”http://www.flickr.com/groups/torontoist/”}Torontoist Flickr Pool{/a}.