So, it’s hard to say what you would know Gordon Pinsent best for, considering he’s done pretty much everything, including becoming an Officer, and then a Champion of The Order of Canada.  Which is only right, because he’s always kind of seemed like the quintessential Canadian actor (and director, and writer). 

Well, on September 25th Pinsent is set to receive yet another accolade…

Continue reading Gordon Pinsent – A Canadian legend honoured by The Company Theatre →

Suicide is a pretty heavy topic.  Not one you expect to laugh while exploring, but with the Theatre Smash production of Norway.Today makes you do just that.  This show, inspired by true events, explores two people desire to die, but not alone, but it does it with a sense of humour and humanity that make it enjoyable to watch.

My show-partner for this was Elaine, who commented that she always gets to go to shows she’d never think to go to when she goes to the theatre with me.  We both agreed that it was a good show overall.  I was pretty concerned that it was going to be a teen-angst oh-so-painful kind of show – hard not to be worried about that when the topic is suicide – but like I said, the show is full of irreverent moments that add to the story.

Continue reading Norway.Today – Theatre Smash →

Review by Megan Mooney

Eventually this will be posted on blogTO as well, but probably not until after Summerworks.  So, I’m going to get it up here. 

At the end I’m going to add some musings that didn’t fit in the blogTO article,because it didn’t fit in the format.

I figure, this is my site, I can write in whatever format I want.  *grin* 

So, I’ll put the original piece up front, then the random musings at the bottom .

Original article:

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Second City’s Barack to the Future delivers exactly what you expect from a Second City revue – lots of laughs, and not too much deep thinking.  Which, frankly, is sometimes exactly what the doctor ordered.

Also as expected, some stuff fell a bit flat, but the joy of this kind of thing is that even if I don’t like a bit there’s bound to be others there who do like it, and for the stuff that made me snort with laughter (I really wish that was a turn of phrase, but I actually caught myself snorting in a couple places, definitely the professional image I want to portray) made other people roll their eyes and not really react.

Continue reading Barack to the Future – Second City →

Review by Adam Collier

I went to see the Canopy Theatre Company’s production of As You Like It, which is being staged outdoors, on the Philosopher’s walk. I had never been to a show outdoors before. The experience is pretty cool.

This play, especially because a big chunk of it is set in a forest, seemed to benefit enormously from being outside. There was spontaneity in the air. The sounds of the city –were all around, and for me, in the context of all this extra sound, the language of the play really hit.

It wasn’t the sounds – emergency sirens, raccoons cooing – that added significance to what was being said. It was because when the actors were really fighting to be heard, the words they choose to emphasize, and the way they spoke, carried very clear intentions for me.  I was easily able to follow what was going on.

Continue reading As You Like It – Canopy Theatre Company →