Bend It Like Beckham’s co-creator explains what the film and musical are really about by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

It’s about negotiation between generations, Gurinder Chadha tells Karen Fricker ahead of the opening of Bend It Like Beckham onstage in Toronto.

In Young People’s Theatre’s ‘Pinocchio,’ the boy of wood transforms emotionally and spiritually as well as physically by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

After the MMIWG report ‘Tapwewin: Her Inquiry’ tries to fill in 500 years of blanks by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

“The inquiry as it was constructed was not looking far enough back,” said Yvette Nolan. “It doesn’t talk about why or how we got to this moment.”

‘The Pianist of Willesden Lane’ preserves memories of the Holocaust with music by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Written by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohenm, this 90-minute solo piece involves Golabek sitting at a piano playing works by many of the great classical composers, and telling the eventful and ins…

Three singers, one Prince song: behind the scenes of Musical Stage Company’s latest UnCovered concert by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Gutsy acting, menacing props and spooky sounds: this Trout Stanley is a wild ride by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

In the Mush Hole, the terrible legacy of residential schools is impossible to ignore by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The production by Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, the title of which is a nickname for the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Branford, draws on interviews with and writings by residential school…

‘Almighty Voice and his Wife’ is a big, bold play, realized through restraint, at Soulpepper by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

A play that’s now part of the Canadian theatre canon becomes not only a success, but a first of its kind, at Toronto’s largest not-for-profit theatre.

‘The Jungle’ makes clear that working this hard isn’t working by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Play at Tarragon is a brisk, lively look at the numbing grind of working-class living in 2019.

With new Soulpepper production and more, Indigenous history is entering the spotlight at last by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Stories like Almighty Voice’s bring the past of Canada’s Indigenous peoples the attention it’s been deprived of for decades.

New play tells the federal-election story as seen from the grassroots — and the land by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

‘The Election’ builds a narrative around the experiences of average campaign volunteers and folds in Indigenous perspectives and a conceit that serves to aid the visually impaired.

Girl from the North Country makes strikingly moving theatre out of Bob Dylan songs by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Hard-luck characters’ stories aren’t fully fleshed out but between the songs, the performers and show creator Conor McPherson, what emerges is powerfully melancholy anyhow, writes Karen …

‘Un Poyo Rojo’ is silly, sexy, sweet and sort of slight by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Locker-room mocking of toxic masculinity is not revolutionary but it’s sometimes quite funny and always physically impressive.

Yaga is a hilarious, ambitious vehicle for great actors to strut their stuff by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Kat Sandler’s newest has feminism, a meaty story and an excellent cast to bring it all to life.

Canadian theatre can be unwelcoming to immigrant artists, but the IMPACT Festival has space for them by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The Book of Life is a powerful reflection on the Rwandan genocide by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Multimedia project by Odile Gakire Katese is a way of addressing momentous and challenging questions, writes Karen Fricker.

Actually’s brilliant actors lead audience into risky territory about sex by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Justly celebrated play puts millennials, hookup culture, alcohol and a lot more under the microscope.

No Foreigners explores the culture that is a suburban Chinese mall, ingeniously and in detail by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Voice actors, wooden figurines and projections dramatize a sometimes confusing story at touring play now at Toronto’s Theatre Centre.

How David Cromer and David Yazbek wove music deep into The Band’s Visit by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

In Prince Edward County, culture is increasingly becoming one of the charms by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

With Wellington Water Week having just finished its second year and the Festival Players selling out their season, transplants like Graham Abbey and Johannes Debus are building up the artist…

Elena Lev was 12 when she first appeared in Cirque du Soleil’s Alegria. She and the show are back 25 years later by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

In the first instance of Cirque du Soleil bringing a show out of retirement, the retooled Alegria: In a New Light comes to Toronto in September.

The play ‘Art’ is dependable entertainment, but is it itself art? by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Those who prefer theatre that takes formal risks, comments on pressing societal concerns and pushes the art form in new directions will likely find it hard to invest much in ‘Art,’ write…

Birds of a Kind goes places rarely seen in English-language theatre by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Wajdi Mouawad’s play, now at Stratford, goes deep into the Israel/Palestine conflict and offers a profound experience of feeling and thought, writes Karen Fricker.

Thanks to Tom Rooney, the Shaw Festival’s Cyrano de Bergerac breaks your heart by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The Shaw’s design, costume and makeup teams also deserve praise. And Kate Hennig has brought a welcome contemporary sensibility to the text, writes Karen Fricker.

Two old friends, two new plays with links to internet culture at SummerWorks by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Graham Isador returns to theatre festival with White Heat, about a journalist faced with alt-right hostility; Lauren Gillis brings Safe and Sorry, about pickup culture, writes Karen Fricker.

Howard Barker’s Victory is dark, offensive and shocking — and possibly one of the best English plays ever written by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The lead actors in the Shaw Festival’s production of Victory share their admiration for a play that’s extreme but also ‘incredibly human and funny’.

Soulpepper’s Fool for Love challenges Sam Shepard’s mythology, but performances need to deepen by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

It may take more time for Cara Gee and Eion Bailey to flesh out their performances to fill the stage, writes Karen Fricker.

Measure for Measure in High Park races but stays relevant by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

The fast-paced version has pleasing performances even if the running time renders part of the climax improbable.

Recipe for Waitress is sweet — almost too sweet by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

Songs are so good and Christine Dwyer so strong in the lead that it’s a bit hard to accept why she’s with her lout of a husband.

Shakespeare in High Park creates ‘sense of community’ — and that includes the raccoons and squirrels by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

This season’s directors, Liza Balkan and Severn Thompson, tell Karen Fricker about the challenges of producing condensed Shakespeare in the great outdoors.

Shaw Festival gives Mae West’s 1926 play Sex a thrillingly modern sensibility by Karen Fricker - Theatre Critic

While the writing is overwrought by contemporary standards, the actors commit to the situation while director Peter Hinton-Davis infuses it with the politics of sex and gender circa 2019, wr…