Next Stage Festival

Everything to do with the Next Stage Festival which happens in January in Toronto

Pearle Harbour’s Agit-Pop! (Justin Miller) 2020 Next Stage Review

Photo of Pearle Harbour in Pearle Harbour's Agit-PopPearle Harbour’s Agit-Pop! is playing as part of the 2020 Next Stage Theatre Festival. The show features a cabaret-style evening of music and storytelling with a political and often dark edge. She aptly describes it as “musical meditations on the pre-post-apocalypse.”

Underneath a warm and glamourous persona, Pearle Harbour delivers social commentary that is incisive, biting, and a little melancholy.

Continue reading Pearle Harbour’s Agit-Pop! (Justin Miller) 2020 Next Stage Review

Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain (The KSLYPH Collective) 2020 Next Stage Festival Review

Photo of Bilal Baig by Tanja Tiziana for the show Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain

Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain, having garnered great interest in a shorter form during Soulpepper’s collection Welcome To My Underworld last spring, is a wild journey into a difficult and gripping story that emerges, slowly, under pressure. While still shaking out a few last hiccups, the show has an undeniable theatrical power.

Continue reading Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain (The KSLYPH Collective) 2020 Next Stage Festival Review

Morro and Jasp: Save the Date (U.N.I.T. Productions) 2020 Next Stage Review

Photo of Heather Marie Annis and Amy Lee in Morro and Jasp: Save the DateMorro and Jasp: Save the Date is being presented by U.N.I.T Productions as part of the 2020 Next Stage  Theatre Festival.  The show was originally performed as part of the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival.  It’s the latest installment in the on-going adventures of two clown sisters. I had never seen any of their previous shows, and I was glad to finally be able to catch one. I found it gentle and charming – a perfect antidote to all the bad news out there.

Continue reading Morro and Jasp: Save the Date (U.N.I.T. Productions) 2020 Next Stage Review