Jake Planinc on staging a Canadian classic and bringing Matchstick’s new production of “Leaving Home” to Toronto
““I’d dreamed of taking the production to Toronto, and the Coal Mine was always my #1 target. I’m incredibly grateful.” ~ Jake Planinc
Theatre
Reviews: Three fascinating Stratford Festival productions to scratch your Shakespeare itch
“These aren’t polite adaptations—they’re radical reimaginings that crack open Shakespeare’s texts to reveal their molten cores.” ~ Scott Sneddon
Review: Stratford’s extraordinary new “Anne of Green Gables” will make you glad to be alive in this world
“This big tent love letter to the enduring power of Anne’s story and the abiding power of imagination is the Anne of Green Gables we didn’t know we needed.” ~ Scott Sneddon
Review: In a darkened theatre, he chews on the challenge of “Red like Fruit”
“He finds that the production achieves something remarkable.” ~ Scott Sneddon
Review: Wren Theatre strips it down for a sensational “Dangerous Liaisons”
“Welcome to Wren Theatre’s compelling, sexually charged new production of Dangerous Liaisons, in which Director Tatum Lee transforms the Annex Theatre’s spacious thrust stage into a deadly playground.” ~ Scott Sneddon
Review: Here to challenge urban Toronto audiences, it’s “Tales of an Urban Indian”
“It’s an individual journey, a living anthology, and a theatrical vehicle that… continues to pick up new creative passengers and new layers, even while carrying forward its essential truths.” ~ Scott Sneddon
Zorana Sadiq’s new play “Comfort Food” is inspired by the love language of cooking
The fact that this act of cooking to express love has been a muscle in me from early adulthood… made it an easy and familiar place to explore the possible adjacencies of this subject.” ~ Zorana Sadiq
Colleen Furlan on the wonder of becoming Alice in Wonderland
“When I stepped into Alice, I learned invaluable lessons about myself. She was seeing the world in ways that inspired me to take a step back in my own life and start to question.” ~ Colleen Furlan
Oren Safdie’s new play “Beyond Ken Dryden” explores the personal and cultural impact of a hockey hero
“Les Canadiens were a great unifier in the city of Montreal and transcended language barriers, but the game of hockey also taught me a lot of life lessons.” ~ Oren Safdie
Review: Life Sucks. Or does it? Outliers Theatre Collective’s new production leans into the question
“The production makes sharp use of Posner’s meta-theatrical framing… that invite the audience not merely to observe, but to reflect.” ~ Arpita Ghosal
Angola Murdoch’s soaring memoir “Twist of Fate” alights in Toronto
“The year after all of my scoliosis treatments and my surgery, my mom took me to a circus show…. And as soon as I saw it, I thought, that’s so cool. That’s what I want to do.” ~ Angola Murdoch