News & Reviews — Kingston Theatre Alliance

One rainy night, 70-year-old Mary Louise (Janet-Laine Green) invites an Internet friend (Booth Savage) over for coffee. (You can tell they’re in their 70s because they say “Internet friend”.) She wastes no time stripping him of his wet clothes, dressing him in her husband’s hand-me-downs, and interrogating him within an inch of his life. In the time it takes for his things to dry, the situation goes from weird to […]

So, you’re 50 years old and sobbing under a desk at work. Where do you go from here? If you’re Sandra Banman, you’ll crawl out and craft a beautiful memoir. Presented with gentle wit and a generous spirit, Menno-Morphosis is a one-woman show written and performed by Banman and directed by Catherine Hume. It takes a lot to grow up and out of a strict Mennonite family in Manitoba. Banman […]

Kingston’s underground world of goblins and ghouls is home to more monsters than usual this week. Descend into the Kingston Gaming Nexus, if you dare, and follow the eerie carnival noises through a maze of board games to the back of the basement store. Here, you’ll find an unusual sight: Eldritch Theatre has set up shop, and Doctor Pretorious Wuthergloom (Eric Woolfe) is prepared to entertain and educate the masses […]

If you saw a man with a bandaged head carrying a CD player as he dashed down Princess Street this week, don’t worry—it was no one.  By no one, I mean it was Outheis. From Barrie, Ontario, Talk Is Free Theatre (TIFT) presents Outheis, a multi-site immersive theatre experience at the Kingston Grand Theatre. Conceived and directed by Griffin Hewitt, this show features captivating performances by Troy Adams, Taylor Garwood, […]

The Kick & Push Festival opens on a hopeful note with Pandora in the Box at the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning. Transforming the Tett’s Rehearsal Hall into a maze of giant comic panels, this immersive work by cartoonist Lorena Torres Loaiza revisits the story of Pandora from Greek mythology to explore the nature of hope. Through a blend of real-world and virtual spaces, Pandora in the Box follows […]

What do you do when all your friends are married and you’re perpetually single? Inspired Productions (with Slackwood Productions) explores this dilemma in their inaugural show, Company, at The Spire this week. First produced in 1970, Company is a concept musical about marriage, dating, and divorce by composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and librettist George Furth. Produced by Mae Whalen with stage direction by Susan Del Mei and Matthew Davis and vocal […]

An exceptional union of community and arts is a phrase I would use to describe Skeleton Park Arts Festival (SPAF). The Festival took place in Kingston from Wednesday June 21st to Sunday June 25th with the bulk of the festival happening on Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25 in Skeleton Park (shocking). I was unfortunately unable to attend the Wednesday to Friday festivities but I did attend on Saturday […]

“A cavalcade of contemporary artworks, visualizations, and soundscapes inspired by our connection to water,” as described by Hydra: The Spirit of Water’s website. Calliope Collective‘s Hydra was performed at Kingston Mills Lock Station which is on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee, and the Huron-Wendat. Hydra is a multi-art show with beautiful large-scale art, floating giant puppets, music, circus acts, and community. It encourages the need to honour […]

Sewing together tumult and tenderness, A Stitch follows Sandra and her husband Roy, who suffers from dementia. The show begins when their morning is disrupted by a criminal on the loose, Jean, who breaks into their house to escape the police, and begins holding them hostage. The show shines in portraying Roy’s (Jason Bowen) dementia. He delivers his lines exceptionally—the short pauses to think and the stuttering sold his character. […]

The theatre is dark. A single video game controller sits under a spotlight in front of a projector screen. With no rules, and in no established order, audience members take turns leaving their seats and approaching the stage. One at a time, these brave players take control of asses.masses. Over several hours, a story of revolution, carnage, reincarnation, and collective care unfolds.  Presented by the Festival of Live Digital Arts […]

How would you feel if someone invaded your home—a place meant for comfort and security? Home is a solo performance starring Beau Dixon, performed at the Isabel Bader Centre and was a part of the Festival of Live Digital Art (FOLDA). In Home, Beau Dixon recalls his personal experience of a home invasion and how it changed him. He describes and recreates important moments of his life, but we are […]

Imagine being in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb dropped. Now imagine having no way to hear it. Scored in Silence is an excellent solo show, starring Deaf performer, Chisato Minamimura, and was performed as part of the Festival of Live Digital Art (FOLDA) at the Isabel Bader Centre. The performance recounts World War II and the effects of the atomic bomb on Japan, but more specifically how it affected the […]