News & Reviews — Kingston Theatre Alliance

“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 […]

Tribute to Wildflower: How to Read a Bouquet  A dimly lit stage with lively jazz playing in the background welcomes the audience to a night of reflective and personal stories. To the right, a sign reads “Connie’s Flowers,” and in the center, a table with various props sets the scene of a charming flower shop. The story about to unfold is one of sisterhood, loss, perspective, and new beginnings. In […]

Content Warning: ‘The Fall after Midsummer’ mentions murder, violence, and discusses an emotionally abusive relationship. Although this review does not discuss these topics in depth, they are general themes in the performance. 

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. […]

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 […]

Job Description The Kingston Theatre Alliance’s Performance Blog is a primary resource for audiences, artists, and theatre practitioners to engage in critical dialogues. Our platform consolidates events and news about arts workers and organizations in the Southeastern Ontario area in an accessible and accountable manner never seen before by the region. The writing team is looking for passionate individuals who are committed to questioning who and what criticism is FOR, […]

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 […]

From the mischievous grins on the show’s poster to the “may not be suitable for children” warning, The MaryRobin Show makes its intentions very clear: this is going to be fun. And it is!  Created by Deaf artists Elizabeth Morris and Hayley Hudson, The MaryRobin Show is a lively combination of sketch comedy, visual storytelling, and improv. Morris and Hudson are longtime collaborators through Deaf Spirit Theatre, a company they […]

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 […]

The boundaries between digital art and live performance are blurred in Peerless Productions’ Reflections and Refractions. Presented as part of the Festival of Live Digital Art (FOLDA), the show brings together sound, light, movement, and digital design in a thought-provoking production. Arriving at the Isabel Bader Centre, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I knew it wouldn’t be traditional. That’s part of the FOLDA promise: to offer “what’s […]

Imagine this: you walk into a room and see ten objects laid out in front of you. A wallet, a medallion box, two remote controls, a Father’s Day card, a photo book, a radio, a stack of papers, an empty milk jug, and a cell phone. Carefully and strategically placed by Scenic Designer Helen Yung, you know each of these items holds the memories of a person, but you don’t know who exactly. Soon, you will find that the owner of these belongings is Brian Lewis, an unhoused veteran who is the father of Cole Lewis, the co-creator and performer of 2021. Lewis, along with Co-creator and Performer Patrick Belnkarn will guide you through the video game version of the very real story that is the last two weeks of Brian Lewis’s life. Exploring themes of  parenthood, the effects of war, ethics in artificial intelligence (AI), and terminal illness, 2021 is a show that can connect with people from all walks of life.

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.