Stage Door Reviews 2020

2020: The Year in Review

Thursday, December 31, 2020
2020: The Year in Review

For theatre lovers 2020 will go down as the first year in living memory that theatres across the globe closed their doors because of a world-wide disaster. Even without a pandemic 2020 was a sad year since Canada lost such a high number of performers...

The Little Prince

Wednesday, December 9, 2020
The Little Prince

✭✭✭✭✩
written and directed by Anne Marie Mortensen
Little Prince Productions, The Baby Grand, Kingston
December 3-13, 2020
Fox: “One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye”
Kingston should consider...

acts of faith

Saturday, November 28, 2020
acts of faith

✭✭✭✩✩
by David Yee, directed by Nina Lee Aquino
Factory Theatre, Toronto
streaming November 19-29, 2020;
streaming October 20-December 4, 2021
“For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall...

Instant Theatre

Sunday, November 1, 2020
Instant Theatre

✭✭✭✭✩
by Spontaneous Theatre, Here For Now Open-Air Theatre Festival, the Bruce Hotel, Stratford
July 18-September 4, 2020;
Revival House, Stratford
October 15, 22, November 5, 12, & 19, 2020
“Life is too short for bad theatre"
Spontaneous...

The Meeting

Sunday, October 25, 2020
The Meeting

✭✭✭✭✩
by Jeff Stetson, directed by Rosemary Doyle
Theatre Kingston, Kingston
September 30-October 18, 2020
Malcolm: “We’re all pawns"
I felt extremely lucky to have caught the third last performance of The Meeting staged by Theatre Kingston....

Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story

Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story

✭✭✭✭✭
by Beau Dixon, originally directed by Linda Kash
Talk Is Free Theatre, Backyard at 801 Big Bay Point Road, Barrie
September 9-19, 2020;
Community Studio Theatre, Burlington PAC, Burlington
October 17-18, 2020;
Eddie Hotel & Farm,...

Wild Magic

Sunday, September 20, 2020
Wild Magic

✭✭✭✭✩
by Greg Frewin
Greg Frewin Theatre, 5781 Ellen Avenue, Niagara Falls
May 2005-March 17, 2020;
July 30, 2020-December 19, 2020;
July 16, 2021-October 9, 2022
“He deals cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance”...

Alphonse

Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Alphonse

✭✭✭✭✭
written by Wadji Mouawad, translated by Shelley Tepperman, directed by Alon Nashman
Theaturtle & Shakespeare in Action, Memorial Park, 22 Little Ave.
August 20-23, 2020;
Dufferin Grove Park, 875 Dufferin St.
August 27-30, 2020
Alphonse:...

I See the Crimson Wave

Tuesday, August 18, 2020
I See the Crimson Wave

✭✭✭✭✩
written and directed by Roy Lewis
Here for Now Theatre Company, The Bruce Hotel Back Lawn, 89 Parkview Drive, Stratford
August 1-September 5, 2020
“Cowboy Haiku”
The Here For Now Open-Air Theatre Festival, so successful it’s now...

A Hundred Words for Snow

Wednesday, July 29, 2020
A Hundred Words for Snow

✭✭✭✭✩
by Tatty Hennessy, directed by Jonathan Goad
Here for Now Theatre Company, The Bruce Hotel Back Lawn, 89 Parkview Drive, Stratford
July 18-September 6, 2020
“Love is life’s snow.” (Fridtjof Nansen, Farthest North, 1897)
The second...

Whack!

Monday, July 27, 2020
Whack!

✭✭✭✭✩
by Mark Weatherley, directed by Monique Lund
The Bruce Hotel Back Lawn, 89 Parkview Drive, Stratford
July 18-September 5, 2020
Angelina: “I just killed a pig”
The Stratford Festival may have cancelled its 2020 season because of...

Romeo and Juliet

Thursday, July 16, 2020
Romeo and Juliet

✭✭✭✭✩
by William Shakespeare, staged by Parkade Plays
The Bruce Hotel Parkade, 89 Parkview Drive, Stratford
July 9-August 30, 2020
Mercutio: “Give me a case to put my visage in” (Act 1, Scene 4)
The Stratford Festival has had to cancel...

A Poe Cabaret

Monday, May 18, 2020
A Poe Cabaret

✭✭✭✭✩
by Tom Allen & Lori Gemmell
Tom Allen & Freinds, Community Studio Theatre, Burlington Performing Arts Centre, Burlington
November 8, 2020
“There were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within....

The Barber of Seville

Wednesday, January 22, 2020
The Barber of Seville

✭✭✭✩✩
by Gioacchino Rossini, directed by Joan Font
Canadian Opera Company, Four Seasons Centre, Toronto
January 19, 22, 25, 30, February , 2, 4, & 7, 2020
Rosina: "Si muor di noia”
For its 2020 winter season the Canadian Opera Company...

Casimir and Caroline

Sunday, January 19, 2020
Casimir and Caroline

✭✭✭✭✩
by Ödön von Horváth, translated by Holger Syme, adapted by Paolo Santalucia, Holger Syme & The Howland Company, directed by Paolo Santalucia
The Howland Company, Streetcar Crowsnest, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto
January 16-February 9, 2020
Rankin:...

Sweat

Friday, January 17, 2020
Sweat

✭✭✭✭✩
by Lynn Nottage, directed by David Storch
Canadian Stage & Studio 180, Berkeley Street Theatre, Toronto
January 16-February 2, 2020
Jessie: ”I got caught in a riptide and never made it back to shore”
Canadian Stage and Studio 180...

Julius Caesar

Sunday, January 12, 2020
Julius Caesar

✭✭✭✭✩
by William Shakespeare, directed by Chris Abraham
Groundling Theatre Company & Crow’s Theatre, Streetcar Crowsnest, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto
January 10-February 2, 2020
Antony (about Brutus): “This was the noblest Roman of them all”
The...

Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes

Friday, January 10, 2020
Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes

✭✭✭✩✩
by Hannah Moscovitch, directed by Sarah Garton Stanley
Tarragon Theatre, Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, Toronto
January 8-February 2, 2020
Jon: “Do you know you’re coming on to me?”
Hannah Moscovitch’s latest play, Sexual Misconduct...

Jungle Book

Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Jungle Book

✭✭✭✭✩
written & directed by Craig Francis & Rick Miller
• Kidoons and WYRD, River Run Centre, Guelph
January 5, 2020;
☛ Young People’s Theatre, Toronto
February 10-March 13, 2020;
• Touring North America until April 29, 2020 – see...