Stage Door Reviews 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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...