Antoni Cimolino’s production of Hamlet at the Ontario Shakespeare Festival takes the Bard’s masterpiece and pares it down to a tense family drama.
Theatre
Here you will find reviews of local theatre productions the world round, with a particular focus on the Greater Toronto Area and the San Francisco Bay Area. We also review many "Digital Theatre" productions — live recordings of theatre — and explore how this new medium presents theatre productions, for better or worse. We especially focus on NTLive, RSC On Screen, and Globe Theatre On Screen productions. And we have a soft spot for modern Shakespeare productions.
‘The Book of Mormon’ brings religious satire to Broadway San Jose
“You’re making things up again, Arnold. You’re taking the holy word and adding fiction,” croons Arnold’s father with disappointment. His nineteen-year-old son, Arnold Cunningham (A.J. Holmes), has been claiming the Book of Mormon contains stories about Christ’s abhorrence of genital mutilation and raping babies. Arnold is in Uganda as a missionary, where the Mormon group […]
Terrific production of ‘Stupid F##king Bird’ proves SF Playhouse has arrived
With its wonderful and often hilarious new production, “Stupid F##king Bird,” Aaron Posner’s modernization of Chekhov’s “The Seagull” directed by Susi Damilano, the San Francisco Playhouse has earned its place as one of the best, major theater companies in the Bay Area. What started as a company that put on amazing productions — with terrific […]
Review of Into The Woods at the SF Playhouse: the company outgrew its old home but hasn’t quite grown into its new one
After almost a decade of selling out shows in their very intimate hole-in-the-wall theatre on Sutter Street, the San Francisco Playhouse (SF Playhouse) moved to bigger and better digs on Post St two years ago. It’s allowed them to expand their audience and scope of production, but they’re also going through some growing pains. When […]
Henry IV Part 1 and 2 at the RSC perfectly captures Prince Hal’s coming-of-age
Taking a page out of the National Theatre Live’s playbook, the Royal Shakespeare Company has finally started broadcasting their productions to cinemas around the world, and then, unlike NTLive, making them available on DVD. Following the broadcast of Gregory Doran’s Richard II, the RSC has just broadcasted Doran’s productions of the next two Henriad plays. […]
Sam Mendes delivers a lucid, dark, and funny King Lear for NTLive
Sam Mendes’ NTLive King Lear is an almost flawless production of the play at the National Theatre, which was broadcasted live to cinemas worldwide. The phenomenal Simon Russell Beale stars as a megalomaniac Lear who is slowly losing his mind.