Shakespeare in Action: Romeo and Juliet

photo by Joel Charlebois

by Kelly Bedard

I am extraordinarily picky when it comes to Romeo and Juliet. I adore the play and have what my friend Maddi calls "thoughts and feelings" about it, meaning I'm overly attached to a very strict interpretation that exists in my head of the pedestalled piece. I know it like the back of my hand, to the point where I'm counting off the scenes as they go "okay, 1.5 down, wow they completely cut 2.1, straight into the balcony?". Basically, I'm an R and J geek who believes that Lord Capulet is a key character, it's grossly detrimental to try and stage it in period, Paris should be highlighted and that the only truly great Romeos are those elusive golden boys with the priceless ability to light up a room just by walking into it. Shakespeare in Action's student-geared, pared-down matinee version is far from perfect, but when Romeo and Juliet is taken off the page by the right director and ensemble, it sweeps you up until you don't care about the details anymore.

My Theatre Watch List: 18 Under 25

by Kelly Bedard

We at My Entertainment World have a long history of predicting the future. For instance, My TV sang the praises of 2011 Emmy winner Ty Burrell as early as March 2008, and current it-girl Emma Stone first hit the site in early 2009. At My Theatre we've been placing our bets on early-spotted favourites like Jesse Nerenberg and Jessica Moss for over a year now and they're yet to disappoint.

One of the greatest pleasures in growing up around aspiring theatre artists is seeing people you've known since they were 15 take to the stage and blow the audience away. I experienced just that this week when two actors I'd known separately years ago ended up playing Romeo and Juliet opposite one another.

So I got-to thinking about some of the most incredible performers I've ever encountered outside of my reviewing chair. They're alumnists of schools and programs I used to attend myself, all still performing, all under 25, all so brimming with talent that it's just a matter of time until people take notice even more than they already have. Two are singers I first heard when we sang operettas together at age 15; one travelled with me to Ireland 8 years ago; there are six university classmates, four high school castmates, three alumnists of a company I created and one from a company I volunteered for; and there's one current all-star student who impressed me when I went back to my old high school for a performance. (And some people fall into more than one of those categories). Some are my close friends, some I haven't talked to in years, some I've never really met, some I've already profiled on this site, some have yet to land their first real gig. But they all stood out as the best of the best of the talented crowds I've encountered over the years.

So without further ado, in alphabetical order, here are 18 names you WILL be hearing again:

The RLD Warns of FIREraisers

by Kelly Bedard

Toronto's Red Light District is the only company that's ever gotten me to like things I don't like- from audience participation to Trinity Bellwoods after 9pm to German expressionism to blatant stage sex. They sell all these off-putting adventures to this closed-minded critic by using them as mere wrapping paper for greater meanings that stay with me for weeks after the production. In a somewhat disappointing season for the company (two canceled productions and an underwhelming ... la ronde...), FIREraisers has proven a reassuring return to form, even if its director is different, its space is foreign and its text is entirely more modern than the company's usual fare. At its heart FIREraisers has things to say, and that's what I always think of when I think of the RLD.

“Spring Awakening” Stirs Energy and Passion from its Talented Cast

by Brian Balduzzi

I never saw the original production on Broadway; in fact, the F.U.D.G.E Theatre Company production (one of the first in the New England area) is my first foray into Spring Awakening’s dynamic rhythm of awakening youths. Impressed with the company’s summer production of Carousel, I was anxious to see Joe DeMita’s creativity in the punk-rock style, but, more specifically, I wanted to see if he would appreciate the German expressionism from the original play.

I wasn't disappointed in DeMita’s choices towards minimalism when it came to the set and staging. The stage is almost barren from start to finish- the actors bring on chairs, tables, and appropriate props to differentiate the scenes and locations- and stage manager Julia Murray keeps the production moving at a wonderful pace. DeMita’s creative use of ropes tethered to the ceiling, wrapped around characters, and tugged in interpretive choreography is effective in some points of the show, but it also distracts from the stunning chemistry and relationships between the actors. In a play about intimate bonds, I felt disconnected from the characters, wondering what the undead-looking ensemble members were going to do with the ropes next. I appreciate the wonderful metaphors around tying the characters up in their own confusion and emotions, but the choice ultimately detracts more than it adds.

BU's Bug Shocks and Stuns for Less Gruesome Reasons

by Brian Balduzzi

On a particularly stormy night, I ventured out to Boston University Stage Troupe’s production of Bug by Tracy Letts, directed by veteran Chris Hamilton, hoping for a night of horror and suspense.

Unfortunately, I was less than smitten with the results. Billed as “the play that gets under your skin,” I was not moved by the production or many of the performances in it. Thankfully, some secondary characters were compelling and spot-on, but too few, too late.

The horror was in the production team. From the sound design to set design, each piece was unified but off-point for the play. The sound was loud; tip: subtlety and silence are unnerving. The music, while appropriate to the themes of the play, didn’t fit with the concept of creating a horror story. I was greatly annoyed when music and fighter noise played during one of Peter’s speeches. As I will say below, Dan Stevens (Peter) can deliver a speech in an interesting and compelling way. Just let him speak!

Horror-pop Halloween: Zombies, An Evil Videogame, and A Sinister Suburb

by Borah Coburn

Happy Medium Theatre’s production of Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley is often funny, endearing in a nerdy (and sometimes intensely angsty teenage way), and engrossing. The basic story is that in the creepy/Stepfordian suburb of an unnamed town, all the teenagers have become totally engrossed with a videogame that uses satellite photos of the players’ neighborhood and zombifies its inhabitants. But the game isn’t just a game, and the consequences of in-game action start appearing in the real world—so what happens at the final level? It’s an enjoyable night of theatre, especially if you like the scary side of Halloween and/or gaming.

Rigoletto at the COC

by Kelly Bedard

Verdi's brilliant 3-act opera is given a beautiful if sometimes silly staging at The Canadian Opera Company this fall.

Dueling Cabarets

by Kelly Bedard

Sonus Stage Company's Sondheim revue Side by Side just opened at the Walmer Center Theatre. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to enjoy excerpts from Acting Up Stage's Both Sides Now, a revue of Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell songs. Sonus' production, a less polished restaging of a pre-existing cabaret has none of the jaw-dropping talent and music direction innovation of Both Sides Now, though they begin with more iconic musical theatre material.

The 1975 revue hasn't been updated since its original staging and therefore lacks many of Sondheim's most famous and more current melodies and while the company does an excellent job making the niche composer accessible to non-fans, an update would have really helped their cause.

Theatre Smash's Ugly One

by Kelly Bedard

Theatre Smash’s production of Marius von Mayenburg’s dystopic one act The Ugly One is a whole lot of funny and whole whack of unsettling all wrapped into a tiny 1 hour package.

Director Ashlie Corcoran and designer Camellia Koo pair to stage Maja Zade’s superb translation of the excellent play in a unique and effective way, using Tarragon Theatre’s Extra Space to full effect with a massive multi-use table taking up 80% of the playing area and characters joining the audience to observe during their down time. Jason Hand’s excellent lighting design makes interesting use of brightness to startle the audience out of its stupors and mimic the trademark surroundings of an operating room or big budget corporate presentation.

In Stratford: Twelfth Night

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #1
The most fun I’ve had at a Shakespeare play in a very long time was at Des McAnuff’s raucous celebration of anachronism: Twelfth Night, my favourite Stratford Production of 2011.

In Stratford: The Little Years

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #2
My first tears of the 2011 Stratford Festival Season came in the Studio Theatre one afternoon as I took in a play about which I knew nothing.

John Mighton’s original work The Little Years was the surprise delight of the season, a new play I loved so much that it usurped some of my favourite Shakespeares to take the silver medal spot in this year’s rankings.

In Stratford: Titus Andronicus

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #3
A lot of people consider Shakespeare’s early revenge tragedy trashy, vulgar, somehow incomplete and most certainly inferior (to the bard’s more “sophisticated” later works like Hamlet). But some of the smartest directors I’ve ever met are convinced there’s a certain darkly comic genius to it. That seems to be the trick with the grotesquely violent Roman drama- don’t be afraid of the absurdity but don’t mock the suffering either.

At The Stratford Festival this year director Dark Tresnjak made use of those very principals to create an innovative and stirring production of Titus Andronicus that proves why it belongs in the great revenge canon right alongside Hamlet.

In Stratford: Hosanna

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #4
After I read late Stratford artistic director Richard Monette’s beautiful memoir This Rough Magic, I couldn’t wait to buy a copy of the play that made him famous. But when I finally got to read great Canadian playwright Michel Tremblay’s groundbreaking 2-man play Hosanna, I was surprised by how much I didn’t like it. I thought on stage it would be campy, possibly even shallow. What I didn’t realize was that Hosanna is one of those plays that simply doesn’t belong on paper. It needs a beating heart, and that’s what Gareth Potter gave it this season at The Stratford Festival.

In Stratford: The Grapes of Wrath

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #5
Frank Galati’s stage adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath is incredibly demanding. With no fewer than 61 characters (not including “Travellers, Guards, Strikers, Citizens and Hoopermen”), an on-stage river, a rainstorm, ever-changing locales and a moving vehicle of remarkable size, it’s a wonder that any company would consider attempting a production.

But if there’s one company to tackle the iconic novel’s demands, it’s The Stratford Festival with their brilliant effects teams, ambitious corps of directors and designers and large, capable acting company full of diverse, classically-trained talent. The result is an entertaining production that’s both technically impressive and emotionally affecting.

In Stratford: Jesus Christ Superstar

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #6
Jesus Christ Superstar is inarguably the biggest hit The Stratford Festival has had in years. But that was fairly predictable. Current Artistic Director Des McAnuff is, at heart, a rock musical man and he’d been dreaming of JCS for quite some time. After the arrival of Josh Young in last year’s Evita and with the maturation that title role brought to ingénue Chilina Kennedy, the cast was finally starting to take shape to be able to pull off the massive task of the Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice rock opera. Now, the soldout, extended-run breakout is headed not only to La Jolla playhouse but all the way to Broadway come March, where hopefully we’ll see some of Stratford’s best get some Tony love.

As for me, I liked the production an awful lot. But with a few weak points and a central character interpretation that’s pretty alienating, I think there are better things at the festival this year, which is why its biggest hit is only my #6 choice.

In Stratford: Richard III

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #7
Take a look at that promotional photo- doesn’t that look like a kickass Richard III? Unfussily sexually ambiguous, surrounded by attack dogs and draped cockily on a throne that’s not hers- I really think that should have been Seana McKenna’s Richard III. I mean look at those boots! Who needs a penis when you’ve got bitch stompin’ boots like those? Alas, there seemed to be a bit of cowardice running around in Richard rehearsals at the Stratford Festival this year as their brave move towards busting open the great roles for whomever was most qualified dwindled into a single mediocre production without the heft to knock politely, not to mention break down any doors.

In Stratford: Camelot

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #8
I’m fond of Lerner and Lowe’s Camelot. It was one of the first things I ever saw at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival and this year’s iteration pays lovely homage to that great production with erstwhile Lancelot Dan Chameroy bringing his lovable swagger to the small part of Sir. Dinadan. That said, Camelot is not actually that good a musical. It has its moments and when executed well it can be pretty entertaining. But the source material here just isn’t as strong as sophisticated more contemporary offerings like, say, Jesus Christ Superstar.

In Stratford: The Merry Wives of Windsor

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #9
The Merry Wives of Windsor is not a particularly great play on its own merits. It’s a silly “one more time, just for the financial benefit” retreading of beloved characters from superior plays (most notably, Henry IV’s breakout star Falstaff). It can be amusing, I would imagine, if staged innovatively with the unhelpfully broad weak points sidestepped in interesting ways. Almost anything can be at least enjoyable if cast right and directed well (I even found a Comedy of Errors that I liked last spring). But Stratford director Frank Galati didn’t even take a stab at innovation- he just cast well and leaned the incredible weight of a major mainstage production on the actors’ shoulders- not something even the best in company can handle on their own.

Broadway Bound

photo by David Hou

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has just announced what I was hoping would be coming: Jesus Christ Superstar's move to Broadway!

The smash hit production (directed by Broadway vet and Stratford Artistic Director Des McAnuff) will premiere at the Neil Simon Theatre on March 22, 2012 after a sojourn at California's La Jolla Playhouse starting in late November.

The last Stratford production to make the move to NYC (2009's Importance of Being Earnest) recast all its best performers (Mike Shara, Ben Carlson, Andrea Runge and Stephen Ouimette). Here's hoping the same doesn't happen to the superb cast of JCS (including Chilina Kennedy, Bruce Dow, Brent Carver, Marcus Nance, Aaron Walpole, Lee Siegel and Mike Nadajewski), for many of whom world stage recognition has been a long time coming. If the cast makes it intact I'm calling it first that Josh Young's got Tony Nomination written all over him for his performance as Judas.

Look out for our upcoming review of the production.

In Stratford: The Misanthrope

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #10
Set designer John Lee Beatty hits The Misanthrope out of the park. As does costume designer Robin Fraser Paye. But there’s a reason the aesthetics and design teams are the standouts in this production- it’s a superficial one.

Moliere’s brilliant script is in predictably fine form with the superb English translation by Richard Wilbur- who had the insight to translate in verse, maintaining Moliere’s hard-to-deliver but wonderfully entrancing rhythms and rhymes. Director David Grindley does an uninspired but acceptable job of staging the amusing story but neglects to give it any real heart.

In Stratford: The Homecoming

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #11
Alright, Pinter is not my thing. In fact, he is so far from my taste that I found myself getting progressively annoyed at his characters and their seeming inability to make a decent decision about their lives. I have a tendency to not think nutso people are interesting or metaphorical, I usually just think they need help and to get off the stage. That’s why The Homecoming is so low in my Stratford rankings. It is, undoubtedly, a very well executed piece. It’s also a beloved script from a Nobel Laureate playwright. So this one came down to a matter of taste. It’s not my thing, so I didn’t love it. But I will tell you all the great things that the company did with it, in case Pinter IS your thing.

Sugar Cereal goes Girl Hopping at Club Oberon

 by Brian Balduzzi

I think it's delightful when I can just enjoy theatre; it doesn't happen often that I can sit back with a glass of Pinot Grigio and appreciate a play like a good sitcom. Sugar Cereal Productions' launch and world-premiere of Girl Hopping was such a night.

Housed in the infamous Club Oberon, Girl Hopping is a sweet, tarty look into the lives of six women. Six lesbian women. Really, the stories would have been the same if you inserted a couple of men, but I’ll talk more about how the energy is just right with this particular cast of actresses and characters. These women all live in West Hollywood, California, and they all sleep with each other. Or they want to sleep with each other. Or they have slept with each other. But as light and enjoyable as the evening proved, playwright Ilene A. Fischer left the mundane and saccharine to actual sitcoms, instead filling Girl Hopping with charm and bite, a devilish mix for this hot cast of women.

In Stratford: Shakespeare's Will

photo by Andrew Eccles

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #12
The crime of Shakespeare’s Will was not a grave one. It’s not last on my list of enjoyable fare at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival this year because it was offensive, badly executed or terribly written. In fact it didn’t bother me in the slightest… because I was too busy trying not to fall asleep.

Poor Put-Upon Bertha

by Kelly Bedard

Alumnae Theatre's current production of After Mrs. Rochester is somewhat of a mess.

Polly Teale's uneven script tells the story of Jean Rhys, a novelist who grew up in the West Indies, which inspired her to write a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre about the life of Bertha, Mr. Rochester's troubled first wife who hailed from the same area. While I'm all for telling Bertha's side of the story (the oft-ignored character is not only crucial to the understanding of Jane Eyre's male lead but she's a significantly more fascinating presence than any other woman in the novel- including its heroine), this is not the way to do it. Teale uses Bertha, more or less, as a metaphor for her characters' suffering- everyone sees the light through Bertha and her story and finds comfort in the connection. As Bronte's story, Rhys' story and Teale's story get meddled, the play becomes more and more disjointed, becoming harder to follow and giving you very little reason to try.

In the Next Room or the vibrator play

by Kelly Bedard

I've been to many productions in the Tarragon theatre but until recently I had never been to a Tarragon Theatre production. Turns out it's a remarkably capable company with strong production values and solid actors.

In the hands of director Richard Rose, Sarah Ruhl's clever play on modern medicine, domestic power and female sexuality is done excellent justice. David Boechler's beautiful set and costumes also give an excellent sense of period with large lighting fixtures hanging in the centre of each room to fascinate the 19th century characters.

My Theatre Looks Back

by Kelly Bedard

Going through our My TV archives I discovered the following article in an "Obsessions of the Week" column from the days before My Theatre existed. As I embark on my Stratford 2011 top 12 rankings, I thought I'd share the article, if only for the nostalgic fun.

Meant for Each Other: Soulpepper's Odd Couple

by Kelly Bedard

Without question, The Odd Couple is the first production at Soulpepper that I’ve truly loved. I liked The Kreutzer Sonata a lot, enjoyed The Glass Menagerie and was very impressed by the heft of White Biting Dog. But with The Odd Couple, Soulpepper has moved from a solid company I admire to one I will actively seek out- less like Tarragon and more like Stratford.

Neil Simon’s brilliant script- full of just as much heart as it has full belly laughs- is perfectly staged by Stuart Hughes. It’s simple and straightforward- Lorenzo Savoini’s set and Erika Connor’s costumes adding small character detail to the story without over-interpretation or distracting on-the-nose elements. They set the play in period without constricting it, allowing it to feel relatably modern without modernizing.

Iphigenia in Tauris at The COC

by Kelly Bedard

I am by no means an opera expert. A working knowledge of classical music, a solid background in French, a decent understanding of Greek myth and a critical eye for good storytelling was what I had to cling to as I entertained the prospect of reviewing the Canadian Opera Company’s current production. What I found, however, was that opera expertise didn’t prove a dire necessity as director Robert Carsen teamed with designers Tobias Hoheisel and Peter Van Praet and choreographer Philippe Giraudeau to create a production that is far more balanced between sound, movement and set than most opera I’ve seen.

Tony-Nominated Play Gets New England Premiere

by Brian Balduzzi

It's remarkable how many meanings that the word “fall” can take in our daily lives. We fall asleep, we fall down, we fall in love, we fall back on those we love. This fall, I was delighted to attend SpeakEasy Stage Company’s New England premiere of Next Fall by Arlington, MA-native Geoffrey Nauffts. This stunning piece of theatre had audiences falling in line to see the 2010 Tony-nominee for Best Play on Broadway. The awards and accolades are no surprise to me; the script is punchy, poignant, and moving. The Boston community is fortunate enough to have a cast and director with the sensitivity and talent to navigate the many nuances of Naufft’s script for the full-range of meanings on the play’s clever title. 

At the Shaw: The President

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #1 
Of the 11 productions at The Shaw Festival this year, there wasn’t a single one I enjoyed more than the lightening-paced lunchtime one-act The President. The zippy script by Fenrenc Molnar moves so fast that director Blair Williams seems to have choreographed it more than staged it- the entrances and exits are so precisely planned, the rhythms so crucial that one flubbed line or late cue could send the entire production off the rails. Luckily, Williams’ clever staging and Molnar’s thrilling script are in very capable hands.

At the Shaw: The Admirable Crichton

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #2
What makes The Admirable Crichton so notable is that it’s the only Shaw Festival production in my top 5 that really fits with the festival’s brand. While not a GB Shaw script, This JM Barrie play enjoys the conventional staging, English accents and Shavian commentary on the class system that proved so ineffective in many of the festival’s other productions this season. But The Admirable Crichton is actually pretty great. It’s more than great, actually, it’s my favourite full length production in 2011 at The Shaw Festival.

The Hypothetical Tennessee: "His Greatness"

photo by Sean Baker

by Kelly Bedard

His Greatness at the Factory Theatre is an interesting if not totally engrossing production. Writer Daniel MacIvor also plays “The Assistant” with an excellent blend of subtle heartbreak and perfect dry wit. His longstanding relationship with “The Playwright” (Richard Donat) is well established and his constantly moving, ever-tidying movements are wonderfully specific. Donat plays “The Playwright” with excellent entitled exhaustion and world-weary self-destructiveness. The weak link in the cast is Greg Gale as “the young man”. He’s not actually bad but in comparison to the nuanced leading men, his overwrought Newfie accent is a little much, his pretty boy affectations a little grating. The script is a too long, the small story might be better suited to a one-act, but it’s semi-ambiguous tale of a hypothetical Tennessee Williams is a fascinating take on celebrity, artistry and friendship.

His Greatness plays at The Factory Studio Theatre until October 23rd.

At the Shaw: Topdog/Underdog

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #3
I was dreading Topdog/Underdog. I had to read Suzan-Lori Parks’ Fucking A in school and could not have despised it more. I was anticipating an angry, expletive-ridden, crass 2 hours designed to provoke response through discomfort. It’s possible that the script could read that way, but Philip Akin’s production in the Shaw Festival Studio Theatre is so much more than that.

I think what a Parks script needs is to not be just a script anymore. It needs warm bodies and beating hearts, someone to put a face on the rough characters. In short, what Topdog/Underdog needed was Nigel Shaw Williams, Kevin Henchard and director Philip Akin. In their hands, Parks’ characters (the fantastically named Lincoln and Booth) shone through for all their conflicted complexity and subtle humanity, Parks’ pulsating rhythms taking centre stage over the alienating intensity of the dialogue on paper. The beatnik mantra of the card game motif is particularly cool- recurring over and over with slight and beautifully revealing variants. With the help of relatable and engaging actors, Parks’ work goes from hard to read to fascinating to watch.

At the Shaw: When the Rain Stops Falling

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #4
There are a few truly stunning productions at the Shaw Festival this year- the top 5 in my rankings all really impressed. One of the most creative, most interesting, most effectively executed productions I’ve seen in quite some time was When the Rain Stops Falling in the Studio Theatre. With a criminally short run, you were very lucky if you got to see this special production, a 2 hour and 15 minute, intermission-less exploration through time and the generational ties that bind.

At the Shaw: Maria Severa

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #5
The new musical from Jay Turvey and Paul Sportelli brings something very new to the Shaw, even if the plot is nothing new for musical theatre. Essentially a mashup of Carmen’s tropes and Aida’s plot, Maria Severa tells the story of a young Portugese prostitute (the titular Maria) who falls for a man above her station (the handsome bull fighter Armando De Vimioso), who is, in turn, being forced to marry a woman he doesn’t love for her money (Clara da Silva). Maria’s beautiful and groundbreaking music, fado, makes her an important advocate for her people in the poverty-stricken Mouraria, but her love of Armando forces her to choose between love and loyalty. Most of the songs are as derivative as the plot, but as played by an exceptional cast, Maria Severa’s sultry tones are a breath of fresh air in an otherwise dreary Shaw season full of period English living rooms and parlors.

The Huntington Delights and Inspires with A New Candide

photos by T Charles Erickson

by Brian Balduzzi

The rarely-produced Candide is a literary torment to stage; not only does the musical feature an impressive and daunting score, but there is a large ensemble of characters, numerous set changes through magical worlds, and a distinct comedic style that borders on the macabre. I can think of few companies other than the Huntington Theatre Company with the talent, resources and ambition to accomplish such a stunning production of this glorious musical. With the broad strokes of her delightful new adaptation of the classic Voltaire satire, Mary Zimmerman adds an artful eye to the minutiae in her staging and directing of the musical numbers, fluid scene changes, and ingenious relationships between the many featured characters and ensemble members.

At the Shaw: Heartbreak House

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #6
There are a few recurring themes at Shaw this year; the first is conventional staging, the second is excellent design, the third is strong supporting players, the fourth is obnoxiously long productions and the fifth is, well, Shaw I guess. What I mean by that is strong scripts with fantastically clever dialogue and well-drawn characters with obnoxious and preachy social themes. Those are the inescapable features of a Shaw play. And by “inescapable” I mean “the festival’s reverence for the playwright blinds them to the necessity of underplaying such things for a modern audience”. Heartbreak House is a perfect embodiment of everything the Shaw Festival is doing both right and wrong this season (hence it’s sturdy position in the dead centre of our rankings: 6/11).

At the Shaw: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #7
The first thing that stands out about The Shaw Festival’s current production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is Sue LePage’s perfect set. Tennessee Williams is notoriously detailed in his stage directions; he describes the feel of the place just as much as the look- the sounds, the smells, the generally intangible. With her detailed bedroom design, LePage captures all that with great power. Both beautiful and rundown, spacious but claustrophobic, the room the audience finds themselves spying on seems to steam with heat from the oppressive southern sun and repressed sexual frustration. Director Eda Holmes then fills that space with a compelling saga well-acted and staged if in desperate need of a more time-conscious cut.

At the Shaw: Candida

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #8
Candida is a play that is both fascinating and a little dull at the same time. It’s an inconsequential marital squabble that goes on a bit too long and contains perhaps a bit too much philosophizing on the meaning of love and marriage. It’s also revealing and engaging as a social study and a question of spousal selflessness. The production at The Shaw Festival this year is also all these things: predictable and dull some times, thoughtful and endearing at others. It features a middling performance or two but also a star turn from its youngest player.

At the Shaw: My Fair Lady

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #9
My notes on The Shaw Festival’s production of My Fair Lady contain only one word: “Birds!!!”. The reason for this is that there is very little to director Molly Smith and set designer Ken MacDonald’s interpretation apart from the far-from-novel metaphor of birds and bird-related things (various "spread my wings" themes and such- get it?!) Lerner and Loewe’s classic musical gets an energetic staging that is as entertaining as it is uncreative but even in its deepest moments I couldn’t help but laugh at those damn birds. They fly through the scenes along the animated backdrop, they chirp their way through the soundscape, they feature in set-dressings, props and hair pieces, their cages even descend from the ceiling to indicate that we may now be in Mrs. Higgins’ house but the metaphor isn’t to be forgotten (if that were at all possible).

At the Shaw: Drama at the Inish

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #10
Drama at the Inish, a comedy written by Lennox Robinson and directed by Shaw Festival Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell, does nothing in particular wrong. The dialogue is clever, the plotting concise, the staging effective, the set well dressed. The talented cast aptly juggles their quick comic material with excellent Irish accents. But the whole thing is somehow remarkably dull.

At the Shaw: On The Rocks

by Kelly Bedard

Ranking: #11 
At 2 hours and 15 minutes, The Shaw Festival’s weakest production of the year drags unforgivably. The story of a weak-willed Prime Minister whose sudden socialist enlightenment causes great tumult, On The Rocks has within it some great themes of idealism in government and the importance of standing for something, but it falls to George Bernard Shaw’s most obnoxious tendencies.

The Ingenues are Growing Up

by Kelly Bedard

This was the year that the Stratford Shakespeare Festival finally saw their ingénues grow up.

Sara Topham, now in older and sturdier roles, is still smattering her characters with a think layer of affected fairy dust, but for the most part the young women of this year’s company are bringing intelligence and guts to their varied and demanding roles.

Dion Johnstone on Aaron

photo by Cylla von Tiedemann

by Kelly Bedard

One of the best productions at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival this year is the gruesome early revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus. Director Darko Tresnjak's enthralling production features strong performances from the likes of Amanda Lisman, John Vickery and Bruce Godfrey. But much of the play's success rests on the shoulders of one of my favourite actors, a friend of My Theatre and a My Theatre Award winner last year- Dion Johnstone. In the crucial role of villainous Aaron, Johnstone steals the show with a performance that's both frightening and unsettlingly charming.

After his great interview in the 2010 Nominee Series, I asked him if he would take some time out during the run of Titus to talk about his experience in the complex role. The gracious actor generously obliged, rushing over after a matinee to meet me for coffee and wax poetic about one of my favourite characters in the canon.

Read on for my candid (and spoilery- just a warning if you haven't seen the show) conversation with Dion Johnstone.

Company at the Cineplex

Company, is a masterpiece in Sondheim's body of work. The simple story is so nuanced and steeped in human reality that it is actually one of the composer's most complex works. So when the NY Philharmonic announced that they'd be assembling an all-star cast to take on all the "Sorry/Grateful" contradictions of the piece, I couldn't have been more thrilled at the prospect of seeing the play tackled by the best of the best (even if it was streamed to a movie theatre instead of live in concert).

Soulpepper's White Biting Dog

by Kelly Bedard 

The final show of Soulpepper's summer season baffled me a little bit.

Judith Thompson's White Biting Dog was effectively executed by first time director Nancy Palk and Soulpepper's stellar acting company, but the point somewhat eluded me. It had its moments of poignancy, some of them very pronounced, but overall left me some mixture of confused and impressed more than moved or inspired.

Summerworks 2011: the top 5

by Kelly Bedard

In our first year covering Toronto's Summerworks Festival we saw a total of 10 vastly different productions. From the beloved to the despised; from uber professional to pathetically amateur; pretentious to earnest; new works, established favourites, ensemble projects, two person vignettes, musicals, absurdist parables, dance pieces, hits, bombs, comedies, dramas and every possible thing in between. Our week at Summerworks had it all.

We've already detailed the 5 productions about which we were maybe a little less than enthused, so without further ado, here's the lowdown on the 5 that we absolutely loved.

Summerworks 2011: the bottom 5

by Kelly Bedard

In our first year covering Toronto's Summerworks Festival we saw a total of 10 vastly different productions. From the beloved to the despised; from uber professional to pathetically amateur; pretentious to earnest; new works, established favourites, ensemble projects, two person vignettes, musicals, absurdist parables, dance pieces, hits, bombs, comedies, dramas and every possible thing in between.

Our week at Summerworks had it all.

With so much to talk about, we've divided our coverage into 2 parts: the best and the worst. For the sake of ending on a high note, we thought we'd start with our disappointments first.

So here's the lowdown on our 5 least favourite shows from Summerworks (from worst to best).

Soulpepper Navigates the Delicate Menagerie

by Kelly Bedard

As the background notes in Soulpepper’s Glass Menagerie playbill remind us, Tennessee Williams had a preoccupation with delicate people. He loved them. Himself being a fairly delicate person, he found them the most sympathetic, the most relatable. I, who greatly admire Williams’ poetic language and unrelenting dedication to emotional complexity, really struggle with the plight of the delicate. I’m a rare harsh creature vastly more interested in those who can help themselves than those who will break if the world moves naturally around them. So, while over the years I have found that The Glass Menagerie is my favourite of Williams’ creations, I’ve come to see its literal and metaphorical preoccupations with delicacy as hurdles a strong company has to clear on its way to a great production.

Soulpepper’s recent take on the great play cleared the issues effectively, with only the occasional stumble over some of Williams’ more unavoidable insecurities.

Living in Arcadia with Bad Habit Productions

by Kelly Bedard

Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia is one of the most interesting theatrical pieces written in the 20th century. It’s quick-witted and academic, funny and touching, thought-provoking, heart-breaking and wildly entertaining. With heavy parallelism linking the superb characters between two eras in a single household (1809 and 2011- the studied and the studying), Arcadia becomes a sort of puzzle for the audience, putting the pieces together as Hannah and Bernard try to, discovering the missing links and the importance of the character connections. It’s one of those pieces that when directed and acted competently can be a lightning-fast night at the theatre that’s memorably rewarding for the audience.

Boston’s Bad Habit Productions was far more than competent in their handling of such precious material this August. Director Daniel Morris both designed the beautiful and functional open-concept set and used it perfectly, negotiating his actors around a tricky four-sided audience setup. The work of lighting designer Michael Clark Wonson and sound designer J Jumbelic added wonderfully to the tone of the piece and Barbara Crowther’s costumes were wonderful.

But it was the altogether very strong cast that really brought Stoppard’s largely character-driven piece to life.