Category: Stratford Festival
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By Galen Simmons How is it every musical I see at the Stratford Festival directed and choreographed by Donna Feore is somehow my new favourite? I don’t know how she does it, but she’s certainly done it again with this season’s production of Something Rotten! Tragically, I was unable to see Something Rotten! on opening…
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By Galen Simmons Sometimes I forget the story of Romeo and Juliet is about two teenagers who, upon meeting each other briefly for the first time, fall madly in love and then make increasingly bad decisions until both of them die. That may be a little oversimplified and perhaps does not do justice to the…
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By Galen Simmons There is something to be said about setting a Shakespearean comedy about a woman who disguises herself as a man to gain favour and influence in a male-dominated society in 1967. Though, admittedly, I didn’t initially understand why Seana McKenna opted to position her directorial debut, Twelfth Night,just weeks before The Summer…
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By Galen Simmons There is a lot of love and a lot to love in the Stratford Festival’s production of La Cage Aux Folles. The costumes are fabulous, the sets are extravagant and the singing and dancing talents of everyone on and off stage are more than enough to make the show fun and enjoyable.…
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By Galen Simmons Sara Topham’s performance as the titular character in the Stratford Festival’s production of Hedda Gabler is deeply disturbing – and I mean that in the best way possible. Having tied herself down to a future she dreads with Dr. Tesman (Gordon S. Miller), a man she barely likes, let alone loves, Topham’s…
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By Galen Simmons It is a rare thing to go into a Shakespeare play with zero expectations. When it comes to Shakespeare’s most popular works, most, if not all of us know the stories, the characters and the plot twists either by having read them in high school, through references in television and movies, or…