All Articles
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‘These Deeds’: A Masterclass in Staging Historical Fiction
- Review
- Theatre Kingston
Craig Walker’s These Deeds is one of those shows that feels rewarding as you watch it. Historical fiction as a genre has this charming quality about it—ever feel “in” on the plot when a historical figure pops up in a Tarantino movie? That feeling is what Walker is able to draw out of the audience. The play follows Walker’s fictional characterizations of author Bram Stoker (George Masswohl), actor Sir Henry […]
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‘Time Flies’ will make you wish Time Stood Still
- Bottle Tree Productions
- Review
Effortlessly effervescent and fantastically funny, Time Flies, an Evening with Ives had me stifling my laughter from beginning to end. In the small—but effective—studio of Bottle Tree Productions, I was so pleased to be in such an intimate setting for this performance and at a run time of only one hour, I was desperate for more. The performance consists of three vignettes and two transitional monologues (performed by Kyla Todd). […]
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‘How to Fail as a Popstar’ Revels in its Missteps
- Grand ONStage
- Review
Upon entering Kingston’s Grand Theatre, I felt I was terribly mistaken. Throngs of people were lined up in every direction. It wasn’t the crowd I was expecting, mostly older folk. Had I not done my pre-show research on the right show? As I scanned my ticket the box office attendant asked, “Are you Colin James?” I nervously replied, “No, I’m Freddy Van Camp.” As it turns out, Colin James is […]
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5 Q’s with Erin Ball
- Artist
- Interview
5 Q’s, 5 Femmes is a short series facilitated by writer Kemi King, interviewing five femme identifying artists; getting to know a little bit about them and their craft. Erin Ball identifies as a white, Mad (from the Mad Pride Movement), Disabled treaty inhabitant. She is a double below knee amputee and circus artist based in Katarokwi/Kingston. She is the director of Kingston Circus Arts and is the co-founder of […]
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5 Q’s with Tracey Guptill
- Artist
- Interview
5 Q’s, 5 Femmes is a short series facilitated by writer Kemi King, interviewing five femme identifying artists; getting to know a little bit about them and their craft. This interview is with Tracey Guptill: a movement based actor, stilt walker, and collaborator. Along with establishing anARC Theatre, and its coLABoratory method for Research-Creation, she co-created When I get There as a part of her Masters in Environmental Studies at […]
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5 Q’s with Alyssa Vernon
- Artist
- Interview
5 Q’s, 5 Femmes is a short series facilitated by writer Kemi King, interviewing five femme identifying artists; getting to know a little bit about them and their craft. This interview is with Alyssa Vernon. Alyssa is a Queen’s University graduate in Gender Studies, with History and English teachables. As an educator, Alyssa strives to continually advocate for marginalized students and believes in the power of art as resistance, paired […]
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5 Q’s with Aisling Murphy
- Artist
- Interview
5 Q’s, 5 Femmes is a short series facilitated by writer Kemi King, interviewing five femme identifying artists; getting to know a little bit about them and their craft. This interview is with Aisling Murphy. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Aisling is a playwright, critic, dramaturg, and academic. Aisling is a staff reporter at the Toronto Star, the senior editor at Intermission Magazine and president of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association. […]
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‘Robin Hood’ was more than just Fanciful Fun
- Festival
- Kick & Push Festival
- Kingston Theatre Alliance
- Lakeside Players
- Review
I was nervous when I strolled through City Park and I saw a haphazard setup of black boxes and forest-themed shower curtains. But, the Lakeside Players production of Robin Hood charmed me from start to finish. The well-known fairytale format was both honoured and upended for a modern audience. The writing spoke to the entire crowd, appealing to even the youngest. It was somehow modern and poetic; delectable to the […]
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5 Q’s with Jill Glatt
- Artist
- Interview
5 Q’s, 5 Femmes is a short series facilitated by writer Kemi King, interviewing five femme identifying artists; getting to know a little bit about them and their craft. This interview is with Jill Glatt, a Katarokwi/Kingston-based illustrator, printmaker, arts educator, and French teacher with the Limestone District School Board. She has developed and delivered programming for the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning, Kingston Arts Council, Centre Culturel Frontenac, […]
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Two Men on a Park Bench… David Mamet’s ‘The Duck Variations’
- Festival
- Kick & Push Festival
- Kingston Theatre Alliance
- Review
- Theatre Kingston
- TK Fringe
Who knew that ducks, friendship, and existentialism could coincide into a single theatre performance? These elements came together in a heartfelt conversation between two men in a recent performance of The Duck Variations. bEST Theatre Company’s The Duck Variations that played at the Grand Theatre as a part of the Kingston Fringe, produced by the Kick & Push Festival, was an existential and meandering conversation between two men on a […]
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De-extinction and Puppetry: Speaking with Seymour Irons
- Artist
- Festival
- Interview
- Kick & Push Festival
- Kingston Theatre Alliance
Return of the Megafauna created by Bad New Days is a physical theatre piece that was a part of the 2022 Kick and Push festival. The piece is contextualized through the company’s understanding of post-humanism and de-extinction, where the images of the future are utopic rather than dystopian. De-extinction is defined as the process of generating an organism that either resembles or is an extinct species. I encountered the piece […]
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‘Sailing to the Moon,’ Contemplating the Monastery
- Festival
- Kick & Push Festival
- Kingston Theatre Alliance
- Review
- Theatre Kingston
- TK Fringe
“What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?”- Thomas Merton Presented at Theatre Kingston’s Fringe Festival, Color and Light’s Sailing to the Moon follows a young, wandering man named Tom (Thomas Cherney) who is trying to understand the value in pursuing monastic life in a forest. Injuring his foot on his journey to the monastery, […]