Aiden Robert Bruce — Kingston Theatre Alliance

Over the past few years of the Theatre Kingston Fringe Festival I have noticed a trend; there always seems to be one new musical brought to the festival that ends up being one of those shows I hear people discussing in the lobby for other performances at this unique and intimate Fringe. In 2023 it was Surely, Sherlock, last year it was The Cape As Red As Blood, and this […]

After being found causing havoc in the streets by a policeman, Jane and Michael Banks (Hannah Burns and Jackson Graham) have scared off yet another nanny. Just when their parents think they have lost all hope, Mary Poppins (Alicia Barban) appears to look after the mischievous duo. Through whimsy, magic, and spoonfuls of sugar, Mary helps the pair learn respect and to find wonder in the mundane, while also helping […]

Residing in a hilltop Spanish Monastery, the monks Brother (Veronica Hortigüela) and Brother (Annie Luján) are brothers, and today they have guests for the first time in five years. On this special occasion they have big plans such as watching the donkey graze in the field and doing nothing… they just have to make sure to do so before the Abbot returns via the Glenora Ferry. I have ventured once […]

“I have good news for you, some of you have been coming to the festival for years, this year we have six good plays.” These were the words Festival Director Michelle McNichol chose to open the second and final night of this year’s Come Play By The Lake One-Act Festival. I have the pleasure of writing about the final two performances of the festival: NUTZ by Kate Barker and I’ll […]

Something is rotten in the district of Muskoka in 1895, and after a terrible storm occurs, the guests and inhabitants of Mourne Valley Inn are stuck together to determine which one of them has committed a foul and most unnatural murder. Written by Officer of the Order of Canada Maureen Jennings and directed by Lise Lindenburg, No Traveller Returns opened the fourth ever season of Théâtre Roulant this past Thursday. […]

In 2014 after moving to their new location at 52 Church St, the Domino Theatre revived Come Play by the Lake, their annual festival showcasing one act plays put on by local talent. In this new era of the festival, no playwright has produced more shows than Harry Jordan, who will be participating once again this year with his new show: Acorns. I had the chance to speak with Jordan […]

The best part about summertime in Kingston is there’s always something to do, and the worst part is there’s never enough time to do it all. Whether you were busy with the Princess Street Promenade or simply seeking shelter from the heatwave, you might have missed this year’s Skeleton Park Arts Festival (SPAF). If you weren’t able to make it out to McBurney Park this past weekend, we don’t want […]

During my undergrad I took a Fringe theatre course in which one of our weekly topics was simply titled “jem rolls.” There is a good chance that anyone who frequents Fringe festivals will have met him, or at the very least have heard his name. This physical and poetic storyteller has travelled, as he puts it, “from concrete islands to concrete islands across this sea of green,” and landed in […]

Much like many arts fests around the world, Kingston’s Skeleton Park Arts Festival (SPAF) is jam-packed with different events and activities. Of course, SPAF brings its own unique flair, and this year’s feature on the festival showcases how. Our summer theatre critics have collaborated to bring you three mini-features on an artist from each day of SPAF, highlighting some of the talented individuals who can be seen around Skeleton Park […]

There is no better place to begin building the foundation for radical change than in the dirt. Kinnomics by Iman Datoo opened on Friday, June 6 as an exhibit co-presented by the Festival of Live Digital Art (FOLDA) and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. The exhibit opens the Agnes’ offsite space at 207 Stuart Street and explores how an organism or an artwork embedded in one ecosystem can find kinship […]

When I was a child, a family friend who happens to be a doctor once cautioned me to “be careful, because at a certain age you stop healing from wounds and you start just collecting them.” Warren Winters (Phil Perrin) has reached that age, and is really beginning to find the troubles that come with it. Decrepitude Blues follows Warren through doctor’s checkups and the loss of his job, friends, and wife, all the while highlighting the hardships of turning 70 with dry wit erupting at each new low. 

Terra (Jarena Lee) has fallen on hard times. Her case worker, Liz (Sierra Zawacki), is asking her to leave her current home at a women’s abuse shelter to make room for new tenants. Meanwhile, her abusive ex (Jonathan Campbell) has just been released from prison, she is meeting with a problematic potential landlord (Matthew Davis), and she is single-handedly raising her five children—Mya (Yashia Allen), James (Iffy Maduabuchi), Anaella (Reese […]