News & Reviews — Kingston Theatre Alliance

In the week leading up to the winter solstice, I sat down with a handful of local theatre-makers to reflect on the year, learn about people’s upcoming projects, and find out what was keeping them warm through the short, dark days of December. This interview with Krista Dalby is the final installment in a series which appeared on the Kingston Theatre Alliance’s Performance Blog in the early (and not so […]

When the TK Fringe began this year and I received my press pass I found myself thinking: “How much can I abuse this power?” Each of the KTA’s three summer critics were assigned five shows to review, so I knew not everything would be covered and I would not be assigned to see every show I was interested in. So rather than simply abuse the power of the press pass […]

A beautiful wedding has been ruined by the murder of the groom. The crime has eight suspects, and rather than bother a judge with the issue, Vic Vanderspank (Shanique Peart), the evening’s host, has assembled a collection of jurors (the audience) to decide by vote. The jury is not voting on who is guilty though: the trial is broken up into rounds with someone being voted off as innocent each […]

Whether you are familiar with the original novel by Kenneth Grahame, the stop motion film, the Disney animated short film, or the more recent 2016 musical, it is hard to deny The Wind in the Willows as one of the greats in children’s literature. The adventures of Mole (Liv Hendy) and Rat (Essie Latimer-Scahill) as they try to help the infamous Toad (Kai Kerr) out of his nasty habits have […]

Being a teacher is difficult: parents demanding the world for their children regardless of the effort being put in on the student’s end, a complete lack of social life because of all the time needed for marking, and to top it all off there’s the endless torment of your unenthusiastic pupils. Samantha Twiggs (Eleanor Daly) embodies all of these struggles and shows what happens when just about everything goes wrong for […]

It’s 1969, the Vietnam war is at its peak with more than 500,000 American soldiers overseas and to protest the war and advocate for peace, John Lennon and Yoko Ono are staging a bed-in at a Montreal hotel. Enter Micheline (Lilli McDonald) and Suzie (Gia Silva), two Canadian teens trying to hitchhike their way to Montreal to allegedly join the protest efforts. They soon meet Sammy (Kieran Chenier), a young […]

With soft, calming classical music drifting through the venue, your eyes are drawn to a single tent pitched at the center of the stage. At first, nothing happens, then a single sock pokes out from the slightly opened zipper. Then another sock pops out, tied to the first, followed by a folded lawn chair. Suddenly a tennis ball flies out of the tent, then a crumpled newspaper right after it, […]

I knew I was in for a good time as soon as Hillary Yaas strutted on stage in a long Cruella De Vil-type coat and the biggest, most colourful wig I have ever seen. Co-creator Selena Vyle calls out to her from the stairs of the Baby Grand, and from the moment they are on stage together, the whole room feels alive. Their latest show A Play We Just Wrote […]

Performing on the stage is one of the oldest and most universal forms of expression—or rather—it tries to be. But so much theatre is dependent on language, and theatres globally have been attempting to tear down this language barrier for years. Canada has made some great strides in the past with the Canadian Opera Company introducing Surtitles  in 1983, but reading words far above the action of a piece hardly […]

Set in an unnamed Canadian location, this musical follows a group of four friends spending their final two days together at a cottage in the woods before leaving their Northern hometown for universities across the globe to pursue their different passions. Each is chasing a different dream, and the story blends hope, nostalgia, humour, and the inevitable bittersweet feeling of growing up. What makes Jack Oliver Kotanen (composer/lyricist) and Katelyn […]

Three venues, all alike in dignity, in fair Kingston where TK Fringe lays many scenes. More specifically for Dana Schindel, it’s in the Davies lounge where she lays the scene for her show, Shakespeare: Say It! This delightfully creative show turns Romeo and Juliet into an interactive story, inviting the audience to step into the iconic roles themselves. Armed with character cards and visual cues, you’re not just watching the […]

William Shakespeare wrote his fair share of catchy song lyrics back in his day, but unfortunately you won’t find them playing on grocery store speakers as you wander the aisles. Luckily, Robert Markus, Julia Nish-Lapidus, and James Wallis have assembled a collection of popular tunes inspired by the Bard’s legendary works that one might be more likely to come across in day to day life. Play On! A Shakespeare Inspired […]