News & Reviews Archive

Seven performers dressed as skeletons on a dimly lit stage. It is the cast of Everybody produced by DAN School of Drama and Music.

‘Everybody’ is flippant and fatally Funny

  • Queen's University
  • Review

An immersive student production transforms the Isabel Bader Centre’s studio theatre into a site of divine reckoning. Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ Everybody is a contemporary adaptation of the 15th-century morality play Everyman. A popular genre in medieval and early Tudor theatre, morality plays typically feature personifications of abstract concepts alongside angels, demons, and an ordinary human protagonist. In Everyman, one man—representing all of humanity—goes on an allegorical journey through the afterlife, addressing […]

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Photo of Grapevine Theatre's onstage production of 'Harmonia.'

Spectacular on many levels: Grapevine Theatre’s ‘Harmonia’

  • Review

The perennial City of Wine offers its first full bloom with Harmonia, a tale of forbidden love between a goddess and a mortal. Harmonia is the first in the nine-play cycle by local playwright Ned Dickens, which the Grapevine Theatre Project plans to produce as a series over the next five years. After an enormous effort by a network of over 300 theatre lovers, Harmonia is the magnificent fruit of […]

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‘These Shining Lives’ is worth a Watch

  • Domino Theatre
  • Review

1922: Catherine, Frances, Charlotte, and Pearl are the four shining faces of the factory workers at the Radium Dial Company. For eight hours a day, they paint tiny numbers on pocket watch after pocket watch, laughing and talking as they dip their brushes in radium-laced paint.  When she first joins the company, Catherine is put off by her coworkers’ habit of licking their brushes to make the ends pointy, but […]

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An Irish flag with a red maple leaf in the centre. Below a girl rides her bike. Text reads: "Theatre Kingston EEN By Rosemary Doyle"

Help, I’m turning into my grandmother! EEN’s journey through Generations

  • Review
  • Theatre Kingston

It’s a classic clash of generations: Canadian high school grad Tanya arrives in Ireland and is flabbergasted by her grandmother’s seemingly backwards lifestyle. Mary, Tanya’s Nan, is set in her ways— she prefers to cover the electric stovetop with a tablecloth and cook her meals on a fire, so-called progress be damned. Over a long summer filled with uphill bike rides, intercultural misadventures, and cups of tea with a mysterious […]

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A shadow of a hand holding a small broom. Text reads: "Birdbone Theatre performs Broom Dance A shadow puppet show in concert with Chanter La Pomme Accordian and hurdy-gurdy ensemble performing Neo-trad and traditional European dance music Friday February 17 7-9pm 191 King St E Admission at door $20 - $40 & kids FREE"

A sweeping spectacle: Birdbone Theatre’s Broom Dance

  • Kingston Theatre Alliance
  • Review

A combination of shadow puppetry, singing, hurdy-gurdy drones, cackles, moans, and good old-fashioned solstice sorcery brings a crowded living room to near silence on a cold December night. This is Birdbone Theatre’s Broom Dance, a show that has enchanted me twice this winter. The first time was at the Department of Illumination’s Firelight Lantern Festival in November, followed by a house show in Kingston’s Skeleton Park neighbourhood just before the […]

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An orange background with yellow leaves faintly appearing on the left side. Text readsn "PXR 2022," "Single Thread," "Electric Company Theatre," "November 12th - November 19th 2022," "Canada Council for the Arts," "Ontario Arts Council"

PXR Review Loading…

  • Kingston Theatre Alliance
  • Review
  • Single Thread Theatre Co

Like many, the idea of an online theatrical experience doesn’t excite me like it did pre-pandemic.  The anticipation of being involved with new technology has been dimmed by having to creatively engage with it out of necessity rather than curiosity for the last two years. This was the unfortunate attitude that I held when I went into the PXR (Performance and Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality) Conference. Immediately I felt […]

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A beige background. In the top right corner Santa is writing on a piece of paper while talking with three kids. Text reads "Miracle on 34th Street," "Adapted by the Mountain Community Theatre," "From the Novel by Valentine Davies," "Directed by Valerie Winslow," "By permission of Dramatic publishing," "Thursday ~ Saturday," "December 1 ~ 17," "Curtain 7:30, 2:00 curtain on final Saturday," "Tickets available through the Grand Theatre Box Office," "For more information www.dominotheatre.com," "with support from the Kingston Media Group."

‘Miracle on 34th Street’ showcases family Fun

  • Domino Theatre
  • Kingston Theatre Alliance
  • Review

At the Domino Theatre, a by and for family Christmas meditation on what it means to believe is showing. Miracle on 34th Street as it exists onstage was adapted from the 1947 film of the same name. The premise of the show sees a stranded Kris Kringle (Phil Perrin) as he tries to spread Christmas spirit around New York City, encountering the unlikely trio of Doris Walker (Jennifer Tryon), her […]

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Kingston Meistersingers usher in long-awaited musical comedy for Kingston

  • Kingston Theatre Alliance
  • Review

Mel Brooks’ film The Producers was his 1967 directorial debut. Starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, the story followed fading Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Mostel) as he and accountant-turned-producer Leo Bloom (Wilder) attempted to put on the worst Broadway show of all time. The Broadway musical adaptation of the film, and subsequent movie musical, stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Brodrick, following the same plot. Put on by The Kingston Meistersingers, […]

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A pumpkin, orange, and strawberries are growing in grass. Very tiny boots and a very tiny garden shovel are on the grass. Text reads "Garden of Edith," "First Ditch," "Ontario Arts Council"

‘Garden of Edith’ is a Fantastical Feat

  • Festival
  • Kingston Theatre Alliance
  • Review
  • Shortwave Radio Theatre Festival

Let’s talk audio plays. There’s an obvious challenge here: Keep an audience engaged through only sound. Under-do it: you’ve lost their attention. Over-do it: tumultuous confusion. Finding that happy medium is really where a show sells itself. Now, one begs the question, does Shannon Kingston’s Garden of Edith find that sweet spot? …Yes. With beautiful precision. Presented by First Ditch Collective, the premiere of Garden of Edith begins with a […]

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Three men appear. Two are in are dressed in suits. One man is is wearing a cowboy hat. Text reads: "Theatre Kingston THESE DEEDS Written and Directed by CRAIG WALKER"

‘These Deeds’: A Masterclass in Staging Historical Fiction

  • Kingston Theatre Alliance
  • Review

Craig Walker’s These Deeds is one of those shows that feels rewarding as you watch it. Historical fiction as a genre has this charming quality about it—ever feel “in” on the plot when a historical figure pops up in a Tarantino movie? That feeling is what Walker is able to draw out of the audience. The play follows Walker’s fictional characterizations of author Bram Stoker (George Masswohl), actor Sir Henry […]

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A drawing on the left of three sitting in a building under construction, doing work on it with the words 'mere mortals' displayed. A middle drawing of a man and woman holding hands and sitting on a lily pad with the wording 'time flies' displayed. A drawing on the right of a man walking down the street. He passes a mirror and the reflection is of a similarly dressed, similar looking man who isn't quite the same. The wording 'degas, c'est moi' is displayed. Above the three drawings, 'Time Flies: An Evening of Ives October 13 - 30 The Bottle Tree Studio Series' is displayed.

‘Time Flies’ will make you wish Time Stood Still

  • Kingston Theatre Alliance
  • Review

Effortlessly effervescent and fantastically funny, Time Flies, an Evening with Ives had me stifling my laughter from beginning to end. In the small—but effective—studio of Bottle Tree Productions, I was so pleased to be in such an intimate setting for this performance and at a run time of only one hour, I was desperate for more.  The performance consists of three vignettes and two transitional monologues (performed by Kyla Todd). […]

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Vivek Shraya poses against pink, shimmering curtains wearing a pink coat with pink makeup and licking an ice cream cone

‘How to Fail as a Popstar’ Revels in its Missteps

  • Kingston Theatre Alliance
  • Review

Upon entering Kingston’s Grand Theatre, I felt I was terribly mistaken.  Throngs of people were lined up in every direction. It wasn’t the crowd I was expecting, mostly older folk. Had I not done my pre-show research on the right show? As I scanned my ticket the box office attendant asked, “Are you Colin James?”  I nervously replied, “No, I’m Freddy Van Camp.” As it turns out, Colin James is […]

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