Stratford Festival Reviews

Seasonal affect in order

Keith — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:57:07 +0000

"One of the joys of Stratford's latest Midsummer Night's Dream is seeing Geraint Wyn Davies play a Shakespearean role in which he remains alive into the second act...I've never seen a better performance of Bottom than Wyn Davies'..."

Phèdre: A midsummer night’s terror worth revisiting

Keith — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:46:08 +0000

"Kenneth Tynan once described Jean Racine's Phèdre as "a disappointing sequel to A Midsummer Night's Dream." I wouldn't necessarily endorse the adjective (and he himself went on to withdraw it) but the presence of both plays at this year's Stratford Festival gives us a unique opportunity to follow the story through and to reflect on the unreliability of happy endings."

A brilliant Phèdre waits just next door

Keith — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:31:22 +0000

If you want to see a fine tragic actress at the height of her powers tackling one of the great dramatic roles in the canon – Jean Racine's Phèdre – now is your chance...this is work of the highest calibre. And you don't need to travel all the way to England to see it.

Return to India a voyage of discovery

Keith — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:24:41 +0000

"Rice Boy is fuelled more by the desire to tell a good yarn than to undertake a deep analysis of colliding cultures. The talented cast, led by Majumdar and Mengesha, is strong, while director Guillermo Verdecchia handles proceedings calmly and unemphatically."

Indian buffet feels overstuffed

Keith — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:02:31 +0000

While the story of 12-year-old Indian-Canadian Tommy (Araya Mengesha), his mathematician father (Raoul Bhaneja) and their extended family in India has become subtler and stronger in many ways, it is still overstuffed –and feels cramped on Stratford's small studio stage.

Phedre a restrained approach to incest

Keith — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:51:51 +0000

Insightful context supports a lukewarm review. "As Racine wrote in his preface, he was satisfied with his tragedy because the mere thought of the crime [incest] is looked upon with as much horror as the crime itself." [This production] "doesn't succeed in making Phèdre's irrepressible lust and subsequent all-encompassing shame resonate with a modern audience."

Lady Bracknell Is Back, With a Slightly Unladylike Air

Keith — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:45:40 +0000

Isherwood writes a glowing review, much of it celebrating Lady Bracknell and Brian Bedford. "Without sacrificing a single of Lady Bracknell’s withering bons mots, he [Bedford] avoids the stridently arch and the obvious. A single word — “Found?” — spoken in a tone of hushed stupefaction sets the audience roaring..."

Fine ensemble work & rich humour

Keith — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:53:11 +0000

The production features fine ensemble work that polishes the play’s patina of sorrow with rich humour... What Rice Boy is really about is love—the joy of finding it, the comfort of possessing it and, most poignantly, the pain of losing it.

Director smothers Walkers wonderful words

Keith — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:36:42 +0000

3 1/2 stars out of 5. "...there's still a lot of charm and wit to be found in playwright George F. Walker's wonderfully edgy take on the swashbuckling anti-hero born of Shelley's early poem. And, in a touch of irony, it also manages to emerge as the most highly theatrical piece in the Studio's three-play season, despite its age." (part of a feature story, scroll down)

Araya Mengesha almost perfect

Keith — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:32:23 +0000

Praise for the actors, Araya Mengesha is singled out, but despite the performances in this "major re-write, they [playwright Sunil Kuruvilla and director Guillermo Verdecchia] seem to have drastically cut the Canadian portion of the story, essentially turning CanCon into bookends and concentrating instead on the part of the story set on the Indian sub-continent."