From the monthly archives: August 2012

Crucible; Critics; Despair

By On 30/08/2012 · 3 Comments

I wasn’t going to write anything about this. But now I’ve read Robert Cushman’s review of Soulpepper’s Crucible, and now I’m incensed; so now I have to write about this.

Soulpepper’s Crucible is a very well-acted performance that is almost entirely devoid of ideas. It shows little evidence of direction beyond the coaching of actors, [...]

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Theatre does not tell Stories

By On 28/08/2012 · 14 Comments

In my recent exchange with Jacob Zimmer, I took particular exception to his argument that old plays don’t have the same impact anymore that they might once have had because “we are in a different time. Story telling modes change.” My largely unqualified riposte then was “plays are not stories. Whatever a play [...]

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Toronto Theatre: A Response to Jacob Zimmer

By On 22/08/2012 · 6 Comments

Before I respond to Jacob Zimmer’s thoughtful and generous comments on my “5 Points of Contention,” I first have to give him, or rather his company, Small Wooden Shoe, massive kudos for staging a reading of, would you believe it, Kleist’s Prince of Homburg on Monday — by sheer coincidence, one [...]

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Toronto Theatre: Responses, Part 1

By On 18/08/2012 · 3 Comments

I was a little overwhelmed by the response to my “Five Points of Contention” post. Despite its relentlessly local focus, it quickly saw almost as many hits as my less-than-jolly review of Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous and my attack on Sherlock-author Stephen Moffat’s sexist scripts. Thank you all for reading, for sharing on Twitter [...]

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