News & Reviews Archive

Poster for 'Assumption: a Comedy" Text reads: "All families are dysfunctional (some are just better at hiding it) ASSUMPTION a comedy Written by Cathy LeSage & Anna Sudac Directed by Anna Sudac Presented by Not So Amateur Amateurs FEATURING SUZANNE BECKER - CHRISTIE JEFFERSON - CAROL MCALPINE - JANICE MCALPINE - JOANNE MCALPINE - MAUREEN POUTNEY - WILL POUTNEY - BRYAN SCOTT SATURDAY MAY 20TH 2PM (PAY WHAT YOU CAN) & 7:30PM ($20) DOMINO THEATRE 52 CHURCH ST *THIS PLAY CONTAINS ADULT THEMES AND LANGUAGES AND IS INTENDED FOR MATURE AUDIENCES"

‘Assumption: a Comedy’ puts the ‘fun’ in Dysfunctional

  • Review

“All families are dysfunctional,” proclaims the poster for Assumption: a Comedy. “Some are just better at hiding it.”  Assumption is a new play co-written by Jo McAlpine, Christie Jefferson, Cathy LeSage, and Anna Sudac. Presented by the Not So Amateur Amateurs and directed by Anna Sudac, this play was brought to life under a unique set of circumstances. Starting with a spontaneous idea by McAlpine and Jefferson to co-write a […]

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Green grass below a wooden fence with a bright blue sky above the fence. This is the poster for Domino Theatre's production of 'Hilda's Yard' and text reads" "Domino Theatre presents Hilda's Yard by Norm Foster directed by Pauline Jodoin"

A family in flux: ‘Hilda’s Yard’

  • Domino Theatre
  • Review

At Hilda’s house, nobody uses the front door. Set in 1956, Hilda’s Yard follows an afternoon of mild chaos as empty nesters Hilda and Sam Fluck find their adult children hopping the fence in an unannounced—and uninvited—return home. Jokes are made, relatives are nagged, and heartfelt conversations are had. Hilda’s Yard, a comedy by Norm Foster, premiered in New Brunswick in 2012. This month, it appears at Kingston’s Domino Theatre […]

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A black background. St. Lawrence College's poster for 'The Rocky Horror Show.' Text reads: "St. Lawrence College Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show" A picture of lips biting at the bottom of the poster.

It’s not easy having a good time: ‘The Rocky Horror Show’

  • Review
  • St. Lawrence College

This review mentions sexual violence. You can tell a show is going to be a riot when the venue posts a list of what not to bring. If you’re going to the Brockville Arts Centre this weekend, their website has a long catalogue of forbidden items, including rice, dry toast, toilet paper, open flames, confetti, and supersoakers. If this list sounds familiar, you might already be humming the “Time Warp.” […]

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The cast of Queen's Musical Theatre 'Funny Girl' posing against a large window.

“Hello, gorgeous”: the fabulous ‘Funny Girl’

  • Queen's University
  • Review

I have a terrible secret: until Friday night, I had never seen Funny Girl. Not the show, not the movie. I’d never even borrowed the CD from the library, which I did with every other cast album I could get my hands on as a show tune-saturated tween. I have a foggy middle school recollection of hearing Lea Michele sing “Don’t Rain on My Parade” in Glee, but that’s it. […]

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Poster for St Lawrence College's 'Cabaret.' A blue brick background with black cracks shows a red circle with a leg peeking through. Text reads: "St. Lawrence College Showcasing the St. Lawrence College Music Theatre - Performance Program Cabaret March 31, April 1 & 2 Thousand Islands Playhouse, Gananoque Tickets available online and at the box office Book by Joe Masteroff / Based on teh play by John Vandrulen and Stories by Christopher Isherwood / Music by John Kander / Lyrics by Fred Ebb Sponsored by: Friends of Music Theatre"

Leave your troubles outside: life is a ‘Cabaret’

  • Review
  • St. Lawrence College

Smoky, sensual, and unsettling—welcome to Cabaret. This weekend, St. Lawrence College, showcasing students from the Music Theatre Performance program, presents the classic musical in all its doomed, debauched glory. Set in interwar Berlin, Joe Masteroff’s Cabaret (music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb) depicts the insidious creep of fascism into everyday life. Based on the play by John Van Drulen, which in turn is based on the work […]

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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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