Review — Kingston Theatre Alliance

How often is it that Canadian audiences get to witness their city celebrated in nearly every possible way, in the form of a new musical? Presented by Thousand Islands Playhouse in partnership with Theatre Aquarius, It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken tells the story of Waleed (Ali Momen), an exiled journalist who arrives in Kingston from Baghdad, Iraq, and finds himself swept into a romance with Kate (Talia […]

Not everyone gets a second chance at life after death, but Bottle Tree Productions’ The Death of Me gives audiences a glimpse at the possibility.  As part of Bottle Tree’s Studio Series—a collection of shows under 90 minutes staged in their performance space—The Death of Me, written by Canadian playwright Norm Foster, follows John (Martin Fobert), a kind, average man who unexpectedly arrives in heaven, shocked to receive news from […]

Content Warning: ‘Innocence Lost: A Play About Steven Truscott’  concerns real-life events of murder, sexual assault, and crimes committed against children. Although these topics are not discussed in-depth in this review, they feature heavily in this production. How well do you know your neighbors? A dramatic rendition of the harrowing case of Steven Truscott, one Canadian play presents a grueling analysis of the justice system and a forewarning of the […]

Perhaps you’ve monitored the question– you were given religion young, accepted it, or you read the science, believed it. And perhaps you have pretended that such garnering of information gives you any sort of answer at all. You may have seen it, gotten close to it even; felt it slip right past your ear or out of your hands. For any of these reasons, you may be certain you know […]

Can our ideas represent us? Can they take our place? Nassim Soleimanpour confesses in his 2010 script, White Rabbit, Red Rabbit that he had “Always wanted to write something that makes me free.” A young Iranian playwright barred from leaving his country for having not completed mandatory military service, Soleimanpour sent White Rabbit, Red Rabbit like a paper airplane out of Iran and into the world. Along its fantastic journey, […]

No one’s a stranger, though we all Come From Away… since its inception at Sheridan College in 2011, this Canadian original musical has been nominated for 37 awards and 13 wins, including Best New Musical at the 2019 Olivier Awards and Outstanding Musical at the 2017 Drama Desk Awards. From workshops to the West End, this show has travelled far and wide to finally touchdown at the Thousand Islands Playhouse […]

Content Warning: ‘JOSIAH’ deals with topics like slavery, racism, and trauma. Although this review does not discuss these topics in depth, they are general themes in the performance. I had the chance to catch Theatre Kingston’s one-weekend-only staging of Thousand Miles of Bricks Productions’ touring play JOSIAH, a solo show recounting the life of Josiah Henson from enslavement to freedom. Developed from a collaboration between performer Cassel Miles and playwright […]

When you stop turning with the world, you may just trip into the margins of reality. This fall, the Thousand Islands Playhouse hosts none other than Ronnie Burkett’s touring production, Wonderful Joe. Having received international acclaim for his innovative and evocative puppetry, Canadian theatre legend Burkett has brought to the Gananoque stage an unprecedented fragment of repertoire for an adult theatre audience.  Wonderful Joe’s story follows the final adventure of […]

Alas, the poor theatre-lover yet to witness Domino’s latest! An ode to the tremendous play often revered as the greatest ever written, Domino Theatre presents I Hate Hamlet, written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Craig Norton. Contrary to its title, the play is a spirited appreciation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece as well as a character study charting the difficulties of pursuing an acting career, the daunting nature of theatre, and […]

It is a dark and stormy night outside Roger Ackerton’s family home… and, as is custom on nights as dark and stormy as this one, Mr. Ackerton is dead before dawn. The Thousand Islands Playhouse closes out its summer lineup with a murder mystery spoof: Murder at Ackerton Manor. An original script by director Steven Gallagher, Murder at Ackerton Manor is a deliciously tasteless Agatha Christie parody play. Following Mr. […]

We all know how it is: watching the It Crowd dance the night away, witnessing a force both indifferent and judgemental. We’ve all felt the push and pull of desire to join them, to be them. On August 8th, for one night only,  the Kick & Push (K&P) Festival presented The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave and granted its attendees the opportunity to decide: will you dance, or will […]

Say it with me now, don’t be scared… “Yog Sothoth!” I recently saw Theatre Kingston’s 2026 Fringe production of The Silk Lining, a one-man Lovecraftian horror play written and directed by Dan Walmsely. The show is staged as a “lecture” detailing the experiences of our leading man, Professor Isaac Vincent (Henry Korba-Babcock). He leads us on a journey into obsession incited by his coming into possession of an ancient artifact. […]