Posts in Canada
REVIEW: "Come From Away" (Canadian Cast)
REVIEW: "Come From Away" (Canadian Cast)

‘Come From Away’ is billed as the remarkable true story, and that it most certainly is. What made this story remarkable for me when I first saw it was its’ belief in the triumphant and restoring human spirit of kindness and compassion of the people in Gander, Newfoundland, to the stranded passengers on thirty-eight planes on September 11, 2001.  The spirit of goodwill, kindness and compassion still transcends throughout the entire Canadian production.

Is it still remarkable? Yes. Did it bring a tear to my eye? Yes. Is it a story that needs to be seen again? Yes, especially given the tempestuous times in which we now find ourselves worldwide. ‘Come From Away’ continues to touch deep to the very core of who we are as human beings and what we can do under the most horrifying and terrifying of circumstances.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonJoseph Szekeres, Come From Away
Review: "Hamlet" by Why Not Theatre
Review: "Hamlet" by Why Not Theatre

A bold, inventive and remarkable retelling of Hamlet produced by Why Not Theatre opened Thursday at the Berkeley Street Theatre.  It is a remounting of a successful run in 2017 at The Theatre Centre in Toronto.  The classic tale is invigorated with a gender bent cast and a bilingual component.  Gender reallocation is not an entirely new format to Shakespeare audiences – consider Stratford Festival’s recent Julius Caesar or Prospero.  Shakespeare himself experimented with men playing women playing men – consider Portia or Viola.  What is more unique and creative is the combination of the spoken word and American Sign Language which elevates this production in profound new ways.  The use of signing has two effects – most importantly, it brings the story to a deaf audience.  Secondly, it adds a brilliant dimension of intensity to the emotion –packed story.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonDave Rabjohn, Why Not Theatre
Review: The Virgin Trial’ at Soulpepper
Review: The Virgin Trial’ at Soulpepper

I had the opportunity to see Kate Henning’s extraordinary The Last Wife in 2017 at Soulpepper and was marvellously drawn back into the Tudor world and its events of the court of Henry VIII, Katherine Parr, his surviving wife and Henry’s three children from various wives – Mary, Bess (later Queen Elizabeth I) and Edward. I’ve always held a fascination with the world of the Tudors and found that Ms. Henning’s text completely captivated my attention. 

For one, I liked the fact the story is told in ‘modern English’ as it was easy to follow the events of the plot since I remember a great deal of them from studies during my undergraduate years and in teaching English language and literature to secondary school students.  When I had read that Ms. Henning was completing a trilogy of the story, I was looking forward to continuing the journey with the characters. The fact the second part would be directed by Alan Dilworth with Ms. Watson returning was a bonus.

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CanadaChristopher PetersonSoulpepper, Joseph Szekeres
Review: "After the Fire" at The Theatre Centre
Review: "After the Fire" at The Theatre Centre

Award winning Albertan playwright Matthew MacKenzie enjoys a recent successful run of his production of Bears, a foray into the politics of oil pipelines in our country.  With After the Fire, MacKenzie examines an equally large topic with the Fort MacMurray fires of 2015 and their devastating costs, both human and environmental.  The fires were the costliest disaster in terms of resources that Canada has seen.  Political and societal implications were vast – from South African “volunteers” on strike to a prime minister bent on pride.  Mr. MacKenzie has chosen a very wide issue that fragments into many sub-strata.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonThe Theatre Centre, Dave Rabjohn
Review: "We Are Not Alone" with 2B Theatre Company
Review: "We Are Not Alone" with 2B Theatre Company

Do I believe that extra-terrestrial beings can exist? Do any of us believe they might exist?

About fifteen minutes into his riveting monologue performance, Damien Atkins asks us by a show of hands how many of us believe in this possibility and how many of us are still not convinced. I did raise my hand in support of other worldly life could possibly exist. Notice I’m not saying ‘does exist’ because I’m not certain of that fact.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonJoseph Szekeres
Review: "1979" at Berkeley Downstairs Theatre
Review: "1979" at Berkeley Downstairs Theatre

Joe who?

For most Canadians, it was a blink of an eye in remembering a naively thirty-nine-year-old Joe Clark’s tenure as the 16th Prime Minister of Canada from June 4, 1979 – March 3, 1980. I was just finishing high school and can recall the turmoil in which our country found itself during this time, but I really had no interest in that political spectrum as all my thoughts were turned to beginning post secondary education.

I wish now that I had paid closer attention to said events as they were comically played out to audience delight and standing ovation in Michael Healey’s superb comedy ‘1979’ now on stage at the Berkeley Street Theatre.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonJoseph Szekeres, Berkeley Downstairs Theatre
REVIEW: ‘KIVIUQ RETURNS: AN INUIT EPIC’
REVIEW: ‘KIVIUQ RETURNS: AN INUIT EPIC’

‘Kiviuq Returns: An Inuit Epic’ is a creative-collection performance of drumming, song, story-telling and movement based on the legends of the Inuit hero Kiviuq, as remembered by Inuit elders: Miriam Aglukkaq (from Kugaarjuk), Susan Avingaq (from Igloolik), Madeleine Ivalu (from Igloolik), and Qaunaq Mikigak (from Kinngait). There is an English language descriptive guide in the program and online that I would recommend future audiences to read in order to develop further insight of the play.

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CanadaChristopher PetersonJoseph Szekeres
Review: Soulpepper Presents 'A Christmas Carol'
Review: Soulpepper Presents 'A Christmas Carol'

Like Sherlock Holmes, Ebenezer Scrooge is a character whose renown has seemingly outgrown his source material. His grumpy “Bah humbug!” has become as well-known a catch phrase as any in the realm of theatre. Soulpepper is currently taking theatregoers on their annual journey to 19th century London to experience Michael Shamata’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, amid the hustle and bustle of Toronto’s Christmas Market in the beautiful Distillery District.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonPaul Love, Soulpepper
Review: "A Christmas Carol" at the Grand Theatre, Spriet Stage
Review: "A Christmas Carol" at the Grand Theatre, Spriet Stage

Yes, we’re told at the end of the story that Scrooge becomes another strong adult influence over Tiny Tim. Yes, the suffragette movement changed this patriarchal thinking but it was a time consuming process that did not occur overnight. From my historical understanding of the Victorian era, women were relegated to the role of raising and rearing children and never ventured outside and never owned businesses. Additionally, there is no other half in Scrooge’s life where she and another person can influence children and young adults. I am looking forward to hearing what others have to say about this

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Toronto, CanadaChristopher PetersonGrand Theatre, Spriet Stage
Review: "The Wizard of Oz – Pantomime" at the Elgin Theatre
Review: "The Wizard of Oz – Pantomime" at the Elgin Theatre

What does a typical pre-theatre agenda look like?  Perhaps a medium rare steak and a bottle of merlot at your favourite lighting challenged restaurant.  This night was different – a grilled cheese sandwich, strawberry milkshake and a sundae!  A perfect gastronomic pairing for Ross Petty’s The Wizard of Oz running through January 5 at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre.  After all it’s a kid’s show and we know that going in.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonElgin Theatre, David Rabjohn
Review: "Every Brilliant Thing" at the Berkeley Street Theatre
Review: "Every Brilliant Thing" at the Berkeley Street Theatre

I have been sitting on this article for awhile because the impact of Duncan MacMillan’s ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ has finally hit me.

It’s a one-person story told in a theatre in the round bare stage setting at Toronto’s Berkeley Street house.  The narrator breaks the fourth wall in speaking to the audience and tells her story how she has coped with her mother’s suicidal thoughts and tendencies. In between moments that are not so pleasant, the narrator has written items and points of interest on every brilliant thing that life has to offer people no matter the darkest hour or fear that we may confront.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonJoseph Szekeres, Berkeley Street Theatre
Review: "The Message" at Tarragon Theatre
Review: "The Message" at Tarragon Theatre

Over thirty years later, in an ironic turn of events, I had no idea an antagonistic rivalry of the scholarly minds existed between Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye until I had seen Jason Sherman’s ‘The Message’. These two iconic literary giants for me served as steadfast points of reference for many of my undergraduate papers in English Language and Literature. This new-found knowledge of academia head butting provided many amusing points of interest for me.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonJoseph Szekeres, Tarragon Theatre
Review: Apocalypse for Tea — Soulpepper and Necessary Angel Present "Escaped Alone"
Review: Apocalypse for Tea — Soulpepper and Necessary Angel Present "Escaped Alone"

It is in those rare moments where one gets to see something uncommon in theatre that stirs the heart and makes one’s love of theatre grow. Case in point — Caryl Churchill’s “Escaped Alone”, being presented by Soulpepper in conjunction with Necessary Angel Theatre.

The play explores the relationship of three friends in their sixties or older, Vi (Brenda Robins), Lena (Kyra Harper), and Sally (Maria Vacratsis) — and a lesser-known neighbour they don’t know as well, Mrs. Jarrett (Clare Coulter), who arrives and joins them for tea in Sally’s backyard. Mrs. Jarrett listens intently as the three women chat about their lives and neighbourhood, finishing and cutting off each other’s sentences as only long-time friends can do. The action occasionally freezes, and Mrs. Jarrett delivers chilling and surreal accounts of apocalyptic visions, often with details that satirize our current social media climate (for example, people taking selfies amid a disaster event in case they get a chance to post them at some point).

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonPaul Love, Soulpepper
Review: "The Royale" at The Young Centre
Review: "The Royale" at The Young Centre

I tremendously respect and admire playwrights who bring an immediacy of personal reactions to their stories of racial conflict and tension within the theatre. The Stratford Festival’s recent production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is only one example that comes to my mind. I had read in earlier press releases that Marco Ramirez’s “The Royale” deals with racial tensions in the Jim Crow era.  As I sat quietly waiting for the play to begin, I wondered if audiences are becoming saturated to the point where we feel nothing about this theme?

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonJoe Szekeres, The Young Centre, Soulpepper
Review: Obsidian Theatre and Soulpepper present "Oraltorio: A Theatrical Mixtape"
Review: Obsidian Theatre and Soulpepper present "Oraltorio: A Theatrical Mixtape"

It’s not too often that I find myself sitting in a theatre, moments before the curtain rises, and I am not really sure what it is I’m about to see, which is an exhilarating feeling. The parenthetical “A Theatrical Mixtape” gives a bit of a hint of what’s to come, but it still wasn’t enough to prepare me for the incredible sonic ride I was taken on moments later: Two young Black women — B-Girl and the DJ — growing up in Toronto struggle with their identity and heritage, navigating their way forward through an exploration of their social and cultural history, presented as a heady mixture of singing and spoken word poetry connected and surrounded by a soundscape of music, audio clips, and sound effects.

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Canada, TorontoChristopher PetersonPaul Love, Soulpepper