News & Reviews — Kingston Theatre Alliance

Nicole is overworked, underpaid, and at her wits end when she has to meet with two parents of students in her grade three class. Enter John, a worried upper middle class father recently separated from his wife and is concerned about his son’s grades, and Rosie, a mother working multiple jobs to support her husband who struggles with drug addiction and her daughter. Chaos quickly unfolds as the parents panic […]

Love is never simple—and in Domino Theatre’s production of Almost, Maine, directed by Sandie Cond, it’s often downright messy. This heartfelt and frequently hilarious exploration of falling in and out of love is set in the fictional small community of Almost, Maine. The play spans eight individually titled vignettes that unfold over the same ten-minute period, giving us glimpses of touching, romantic, and heartbreaking moments. Strangely, by the end of […]

After having her car towed for the fifth time, Annie (Susan Del Mei) decides not only to get her car back, but to personally change the system and avoid future incidents. Caught in Annie’s crusade is gauche tow truck driver, David (Reece Presley), who is just doing his job, which he describes as fulfilling “…penalties for citizen misconduct.” Theatre Kingston presents Jim Garrard’s Big Ticket in the Baby Grand as […]

I love reimagining classics, but usually I know the source material that is being reimagined. This was not the case for me when I went to see Yu Theatre Society’s production of Snow in Midsummer: The Silence, a 50-minute long mime/dance show based on the 13th-century play The Injustice of Dou E by Guan Hanqing. How would I be able to appreciate someone else’s adaptation when I don’t know the […]

They’re young, they’re in love, and they’re in possession of stolen firearms. The Kingston Meistersingers are stealing hearts this season with Bonnie & Clyde, a fast-paced musical based on the story of real-life crime duo Bonnie Parker (Rachel Savlov) and Clyde Barrow (Rowan Engen).  Parker and Barrow’s infamous exploits and violent deaths in the 1930s sparked enduring public interest, inspiring numerous adaptations in the nearly hundred years since their heyday. […]

Virtual Reality has been on the rise as a new medium in the theatre industry for a few years now, but is it ready to take the forefront? Last weekend I had the honour of attending the 2024 PXR Conference for the second year running. This time around, I attended Journey to Octopulis: Improv or Die, hosted by Unknown Theater, and Mary Shelley Lives Here, hosted by Hummingbird Interactive. Both […]

Depicting the titular woman’s dissatisfaction with her recent marriage and position in life, the famous Hedda Gabler, written by renowned playwright Henrik Ibsen, was published in 1890 and first staged in 1891. Hedda (Rachel Fenos) has married George Tesman (Aaron Alum), an academic devoted to his work, who is blissfully ignorant of her real feelings about their union. The one-room drama follows her interactions with friends and neighbours as she […]

Rather than tumbling into a fantastical wonderland, this Alice fights against reality as she struggles with the unexpected loss of her husband, Ever. Aside from the shared name, Alice & the World We Live In has no relation to Lewis Carroll’s famous character. Written by Alexandria Haber and directed by Rosemary Doyle, this powerful two-person show stars Helen Bretzke as Alice and Sean Roberts as Ever. He appears to Alice […]

Whether you recognize it from the theatre, the cinema, the Victorian novella, or the iconic Arthur song, the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an enduring cultural touchstone. With a healthy mix of good and evil, fantasy and drama, this story provides the perfect recipe for a spooky autumn play—which means it’s arrived at Domino Theatre just in time.  Based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 gothic horror […]

“Can I give up being a good daughter to become a better mom?” Written by Sophia Fabiilli and directed by Evalyn Parry, Why It’s imPossible is a one-person show starring Zoë Sweet as Beth, a single mom struggling to raise her kid while working on her career. However, while Sweet is phenomenal in her role, “one-person show” is a bit of an understatement—taking four years to put together, the show […]

Amid the bustle of back-to-school season, a new local theatre club offers a charming take on an old collection of stories. Full of thought-provoking subject matter and peppy performances, The Spire’s Seniors’ Theatre Group presents All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Conceived and adapted in 1992 by Ernest Zulia with music by David Caldwell, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten is based […]

Mayhem, by the name of Mr. Marmaduke, comes to call at Mumberley Manor and chaos ensues. The Mumberley Inheritance, written by Warren C. Graves, staged at Domino Theatre with director Sara Beck and assistant director Christian Milanovic, is a fun romp that lampoons the conventions of melodrama.  Patriarch Sir Roger Mumberley (Phil Perrin) has, unbeknownst to his children Jack (Ben Hudson) and Daphne (Emily Kelly), frittered away much of the […]