Lynn

Live and in person at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto, Ont. indefinitely.

www.mivish.com

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.

A new play written by Jack Thorne

Directed by John Tiffany

Movement director, Steven Hoggett

Set designed by Christine Jones

Composer and arranger, Imogen Heap

Lighting designed by Neil Austin

Sound by Gareth Fry

Illusions and magic by Jamie Harrison

Music supervisor and arranged by Martin Lowe

Video designers: Finn Ross & Ash J. Woodward

Cast: Sarah Afful

Kaleb Alexander

Thomas Mitchell Barnet

Mark Crawford

Raquel Duffy

Sara Farb

Bryce Fletch

Brad Hodder

Luke Kimball

Hailey Lewis

Trish Lindstrom

Lucas Meeuse

Kyle Orzech

Gregory Prest

Fiona Reid

Katie Ryerson

Yemi Sonuga

Steven Sutcliffe

Brendan Wall

Trevor White

David D’Lancy Wilson

Shawn Wright

Explosively magical. Dazzling, dark, complex and gripping.

Background: J.K. Rowling wrote seven books to tell the story of Harry Potter, an orphan, who found his magic when he enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft to become a wizard. Harry meets Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, who become true friends.  There have been several films that have also told the story based on the books. J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany created an original story for a theatrical production that played both London’s West End and on Broadway presented in two separate parts totaling about 7 hours? This new version has been condensed into one part that is 3 hours, 30 minutes long with one intermission. The programme offers a ‘spoiler alert’: that if you want to avoid story spoilers, then don’t read the character list.

The Story. It’s 19 years after the last Harry Potter book/story. While this is an original story, the previous seven books are referenced including incidents, characters and events. The adult Harry and his wife Ginny are at platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Railway Station, seeing their son, Albus Potter, off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. Albus is a solitary, lonely boy with few friends, and feels he can’t attain the ideal that is his father. Harry has a hard time bonding with Albus and vice versa.

Albus befriends Scorpius Malfoy on the train, who is also going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft.  Scorpius is also lonely and aches for a friend, but that’s because his father is the much-maligned Draco Malfoy. Albus and Scorpius bond as friends trying to fit in and having a tough time. There is also Rose Granger-Weasley, the daughter of Hermione and Ron, and she too is on the train to Hogwarts.

The story is complex, involves a time turner that turns back time; creates all manner of incidents that Albus and Scorpius feel they must correct; is full of the pull of good over evil and vice versa.

Those who have read the books and seen the movies will know what is going on and who it involves. Those who have not read the books or seen the movies have a synopsis in the program to bring them up to speed, but might find that some incidents might be confusing. Do not be deterred. It’s an adventure. Some references at my performance had some of the audience gasping in recognition of the information. I recall the same reaction when I saw the two-part version of the show in New York. The 10-year-old girl beside me gasped at a reference to a character. I could not resist. I asked this young stranger who the character was. The kid happily told me who the character was, going so far as to describe how that character took her tea and that she liked three lumps of sugar in the beverage. You want a kid like that beside you. I have also found that the Potter-mavens are happy and willing to fill you in about what you might miss.

The Production. While the story is complex and complicated, the production, directed by the brilliant John Tiffany, reaches out to every single viewer and draws them in to the story and holds them with the blazing theatricality and the jaw-dropping magic—often simple, sometimes complicated. (Bring Kleenex. Your jaw will drop so often that drool accumulates).

We are primed from the get-go by Steven Hoggett’s movement and Jamie Harrison’s illusions and magic. All through the production characters carrying suitcases scurry hither and yon, their arms stretched out, holding the suitcase as if the character is being led by some pull of the suitcase; as if some unseen wind is pulling and driving them about and the character has no will to stop it. At the train station Albus (Luke Kimball), Scorpius (Thomas Mitchell Barnet) and Rose (Hailey Lewis) are in their traveling clothes and twirl in place, again as if a wind is swirling them, and magically, their clothes turn into the robes, capes and other swirly bits of Hogwarts, before out eyes. Magic.

Characters disappear up a small opening in a wall. Other times then appear as if sliding down a chute in another wall. Two moveable staircases simply bring characters up and down in scenes. Other times apparitions appear in floating material that hover ominously over the audience.

Even the simplicity of scene changes is given a sense of magic. For example, a bed is wheeled on by a character wearing the flowing robes of Hogwarts and placed centre-stage. A bedspread is flipped out to cover the flat bed and with a flourish of flipping the robe over the bed, it appears that there are two characters in it ready to do the scene. Every scene change is finished by that flipping of the robe over the placement of a prop etc. to suggest that it’s quick, efficient magic (and in a way it is—in a world where everything is breaking down, in the theatre things work, efficiently and on time.)

There are so many simple theatrical effects incorporating theatrical techniques that are over 100 years old (chairs floating in blackness because stagehands dressed totally in black are holding the chairs aloft) mixed with complex theatrical magic tricks that the viewer is dazzled by the inventiveness.

Acting styles vary. Luke Kimball as Albus, Thomas Mitchell Barnet as Scorpius and Trevor White as Harry Potter almost shout their lines, as if expressing a consistent urgency. Often lines fly by so quickly, as said by Kimball and Barnet, that information gets lost.   

As Draco Malfoy, Brad Hodder illuminates a man on the edges of society who is living with questionable reputation. He is ram-rod straight, imposing and must stand aloof to protect himself. Sara Farb as Delphi Diggory is charming with a mysterious dark side. Fiona Reid plays both Professor McGonagall with confidence and command as the head of the school and Delores Umbridge as a feisty presence as well. Bringing a sense of calm to Harry and Albus is Trish Lindstrom as Ginny Weasley. She is the voice of reason and thoughtfulness when her son Albus and her husband Harry are frantic and bellowing. Steven Sutcliffe plays:  the heartbroken Amos Diggory, grieving for his dead son; Albus Dumbledore, perhaps the most gifted headmaster of Hogwarts and Severus Snape troubled, contained and watchful. Sutcliffe plays each character with intelligence, nuance and compelling economy.

The whole cast to a person keeps the pace of this fast-moving production almost a swirl of robe flipping activity.

Comment. Theatricality and magic aside, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is really about things that matter to us all, whether we are creative wizards or ordinary people trying to get by. It’s about a father and son trying to form a bond but being awkward about it; it’s about friendship between Albus and Scorpius, both lonely, unhappy and finding each other and knowing that this friendship can withstand any opposition; it’s about trust, loyalty, determination, fidelity and love. Always about love.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will dazzle the kid with magic without question and will remind the adult that magic exists, they just might have forgotten that. 

David Mirvish, Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender, Harry Potter Theatrical Productions present:

Runs indefinitely.

Running Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes, (with 1 intermission).

www.mirvish.com

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Live and in person at the Theatre Centre, Toronto, 1115 Queen St. W., until June 26, 2022.

www.theatrecentre.org

Written by Steven Elliott Jackson

Directed by Tanisha Taitt

Set by Tanisha Taitt

Lighting and projection design, by Shawn Henry

Sound design by Christopher-Elizabeth

Costumes and props by Claudia Tam

Cast: Tristan Claxton

Jamar Adams-Thompson

Jack Copland

Background. Three Ordinary Men is based on a true story. It took place in 1964 in Mississippi. Three civil rights workers: Michael Schwerner, Jewish from New York, Andrew Goodman, Jewish from New York and James Chaney, African-American from Mississippi were there to encourage African-Americans to register to vote. Until that time African-Americans had been thwarted in their right to vote. The three civil rights workers were there to help as much as possible. It was not an easy assignment.

Director Tanisha Taitt effectively sets the audience in those turbulent times as they file into the theatre. A projection of a church appears on a sheet upstage. Flickering in one of the windows are flames. The flames spread to the other window and soon envelopes the church. By the time the audience is fully in the space and the show is about to begin, the church has been burned to the ground. Nothing but ash is left.

Michael Schwerner (Tristan Claxton) is driving James Chaney (Jamar Adams-Thompson) and Andrew Goodman (Jack Copland) to the burned-out church to see the damage and to prepare to re-build the place and meet with the small congregation. They are in Schwerner’s old station wagon.  The actors sit on simple white cubes to simulate driving etc.

Schwerner and Chaney are old friends and colleagues. Schwerner has spent time in Mississippi getting to know the people. He is serious about his work and very focused. Chaney knows Mississippi and the people there because he lives there. Because he is African-American he knows the trials and tribulations of Black people in that area that his two white friends can never understand. He still respects and appreciates his two colleagues, but there is that innate sense as a Black man that the others could never appreciate. Writer Steven Elliott Jackson gives Chaney lines that illuminate that difference. For example, Chaney lets it be known that his mother’s house was shot at as a kind of warning. The others are horrified. Chaney tries to make light of it saying his mother collects the bullets in a little container.

Both Schwerner and Chaney muse about Goodman. He’s young, clean-cut, always smiling, eager to please and wants to help. I think they find his innocence endearing.

At times Steven Elliott Jackson’s dialogue seems simplistic but one must remember it’s 1964. Goodman talks about wanting to get to know Black people. He’s met Jackie Robinson. He wants to help. Even so, we hear the same dialogue today and that too seems patronizing. In any case Chaney has left his comfort zone to come south to help.

In a sweet scene, that shows his naivety, he writes a postcard to his parents to tell them everything is fine and that the people of Mississippi are friendly etc. neglecting to say that some of those good Mississippians just burned down a church in which African-Americans worshiped.

For much of the play, Steven Elliott Jackson slowly reveals the personalities of the characters with easy banter. Chaney who has so much to lose as a Black man is always trying to reassure Schwerner that something that happened is ‘not your fault.’ He is the one trying to calm the others who might be a little ‘anxious’ at things that are happening. Schwerner talks of his wife Rita back home, with great love and respect. Rita was feistier than he was he notes. Andrew Goodman pines for his girlfriend Ruth. All of them are family oriented and dedicated to this cause.   

 But then things ramp up. The three are arrested for speeding but they know it’s a phony charge. Director Tanisha Taitt has an American flag projected on the sheet at the back and the three men walk on bent over slightly, their arms together in front of them, as if in chains. It looked as if she was trying to simulate that they were slaves in chains. I can appreciate the thought, but I found that a touch heavy-handed. Taitt also uses many projections of mug shots of people that are confusing and unexplained, and other actual projections of news items. Taitt is a thoughtful director but at times less projections are best in telling the story.

The three are eventually released and are allowed to leave. Each man sits on a cube as Schwerner drives carefully away. The scene is directed with an economy of movement with ever increasing ramped up emotion.  Schwerner sees several headlights in the read-view mirror following their car. (this is not a spoiler—this is history.) The headlights of the cars are projected on the sheet at the back.  Chaney tries to keep everybody calm and Goodman doesn’t seem to get what is happening or how dangerous this is.

Tristan Claxton as Michael Schwerner is the most serious of the three. He is often intense to the point of almost exploding. There are early scenes that could do with being more tempered so that the last harrowing scene is not really that anticipated or weakened because he exploded so easy earlier. More nuance would be effective. Jack Copland as Andrew Goodman imbues his character with sweetness that verges on naivety. He’s a decent man who just wanted to do good. As James Chaney, Jamar Adams-Thompson is the most complex character of the three, and Adams-Thompson plays him with contained grace, as a man who could not show his inner rage of frustration in that town because he was African-American.

Three Ordinary Men is about a terrible time in America that led to change. More change is needed. The play reminds us of that. Well worth a visit to the Theatre Centre.  

Cahoots Theatre presents:

Runs until: June 26, 2022

Running time: 70 minutes.

www.theatrecentre.org

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Live and in person at the High Park Amphitheatre, Toronto, Ont. until June 19. www.dixonroad.com

Book, music and lyrics by Fatuma Adar

Director and choreographer, Ray Hogg

Music supervisor, orchestrator and arranger, Adam Sakiyama

Musical director & piano/conductor, Chris Barillard

Set by Brian Dudkiewicz

Costumes by Georges Michael Fanfan

Lighting by Logan Raju Cracknell

Sound by Matteo Desimone

Cast: Krystle Chance

Starr Domingue

Omar Forrest

Rose-Mary Harbans

Gavin Hope

Germain Konji

Michael-Lamont Lytle

Danté Prince

Shakura S’Aida

Travae Williams

Band: Chris Barillard

John Gzowski

Evan Porter

Aubrey Dayle

Impressive effort.

The Story. It’s 1991 in Somalia.This is the story of Batoul, a young Somali woman and her father Zaki, mother Safiya and grandmother Halima. Zaki is an accomplished photographer and he has just gotten a cultural job in government. Things are looking good for the family. But on that very day civil war breaks out and the family has to leave immediately. They immigrate to Canada but Halima stays behind because Somalia is her home, her land and where she belongs.

The family settles in Dixon Road, a neighbourhood near Pearson airport that is the heart of the Somali community. They are taken in by a family friend, Abdi, to live in his one-bedroom apartment. Abdi drives a cab and suggests that that might be the job for Zaki, although Zaki has hopes of better jobs.

Combining traditional Somali melodies, R&B and contemporary verse, Dixon Road is an exhilarating journey about dreams, displacement, and finding a new sense of home. Join The Musical Stage Company & Obsidian Theatre Company for the arrival of an extraordinary new Canadian musical.

The Production. Fitting in, yearning for home, longing to find common ground are some of the many themes of the musical. While Safiya wants a traditional life for Batoul, to learn how to cook and keep house and marry, Batoul has other aspirations. She wasn’t to go to school and educate herself. She wants to be a writer. She has an ally in her father, but has to work hard to win over her mother. Batoul has a friend who wants to be a computer games creator but his father wants him to be an engineer. The children want to follow their own path while their parents want something safer and more secure. T’was ever thus no matter the culture.

Brian Dudkiewicz has festooned the back of the space with colourful, long scarfs etc. that represent Somalia. Georges Michael Fanfan’s costumes are often traditional for the men and women. Batoul (Germain Konji) gets into the traditional clothes of Canada—jeans, t-shirt, etc. Konji is a vibrant, compelling performer as Batoul, fierce and a beautiful singer. As Zaki, Gavin Hope is a gentle soul looking for hope and trying to optimistic. Starr Domingue as Safiya illuminates Safiya’s struggle to fit in and find her own place in that strange world.

And while the effort of is impressive I have some concerns. Ray Hogg’s direction is either busy or simplistic. There’s a lot of business with moving various screens around the set that is distracting and adds nothing. Much of the action of the huge amphitheatre is in a small space centre stage and often two steps downstage.

My biggest concern is with the piece itself. The book seems slight compared to all the songs that we are listen too. I can appreciate that Fatuma Adar is using many forms of music to tell her story, often it seems we are being bombarded with song after song telling the same story, but in slightly different way. Not every thought requires a song, as seems to be the case here. Also not every character, if not developed, should not have a song. Halima and Safiya have a song “Breaking the Cycle” without giving context before it. We learn information about Halima in Act II that seems to come from nowhere. A rethink is in order.

At 2 hours and 20 minutes with an intermission is too long and seems draggy. A re-think of the songs is in order and the piece should be 90 minutes with no intermission.

 Comment. Fatuma Adar is one gifted woman. She has written, composed and lyricized Dixon Road drawing on her own life and that of her parents as immigrants. She has given the audience a look into what is it like to be a Muslim, celebrating Ramadan and then ending the month long fast with Eid, who might not be aware of Muslim traditions etc. We see the traditions of making certain food at those holy holiday times.

Adar has also created a community of caring, generous people who take in their fellows and help them to cope and settle. Dixon Road is a journey of discovery for all its participants in one way or another, and reminds us of our own journey.

But I think that Dixon Road needs another look to tighten and rethink it.

A Musical Stage Company and Obsidian Theatre Company production, in association with Canadian Stage.

Plays until June 19, 2022.

Saw it June 14, 2022.

Running Time: 2 hours 20 minutes, (including one intermission)

www.dixonroad.com

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Live and in person at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. until Oct. 30, 2022.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Antoni Cimolino

Designed by Francesca Callow

Lighting by Michael Walton

Composer, Berthold Carrière

Sound by John Gzowski

Cast: Elizabeth Adams

Anousha Alamian

Sean Arbuckle

Peter N. Bailey

Wayne Best

Michael Blake

Ben Carlson

David Collins

Jon De Leon

Colm Feore

Christo Graham

Jordon Hall

Jessica B. Hill

Kim Horsman

Ron Kennell

Qasim Khan

Daniel Krmpotic

Diana Leblanc

Beck Lloyd

Jamie Mac

Devin MacKinnon

Hilary McCormack

Seana McKenna

Dominic Moody

Chanakya Mukherjee

Lisa Nasson

Lucy Peacock

Sepehr Reybod

André Sills

Emilio Viera

Bram Watson

Hannah Wigglesworth

Ezra Wreford

A production of Richard III full of pageantry and power opens the new, beautiful Tom Patterson Theatre.

The Story. Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III), has been embittered in life by being born ‘misshapen’ and often reviled:

“I, that am curtail’d of this fair proportion,

Cheated of feature by dissembling Nature,

Deform’d, unfinished, sent before my time

Into this breathing world scarce half made up—

And that so lamely and unfashionable

That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them—”

And while Richard believes that he can’t be a lover, he has decided to be a cunning, malicious villain and murder his way to being king. He lets the audience in on the secret, he is a showman after. But as we know, it doesn’t end well.

The Production and comment. There is a lot to capture our attention as we enter the beautiful new Tom Patterson Theatre for the first time. The building (kudos to architect Siamak Hariri) is exquisite as it curves along the river bank. The theatre itself seems smaller than the original Tom Patterson, but it is just as warm and inviting and this time, very comfortable!

The stage looks like there is construction of some kind going on. Designer Francesca Callow has a trough dug into the stage with plastic covering over it. To show that it’s modern times (although the production is not set in modern times) there is a wheelbarrow with shovels and other digging implements. Near part of the ‘construction’ is a plastic structure that says: University of Leicester. Then I get it: director, Antoni Cimolino is beginning his production of Richard III in a parking lot in Leicester, Engl. where King Richard III’s actual bones were discovered a few years ago. Inspired.

When the production starts, proper, workers in construction overalls and gear come and look in the trough, ponder, peer and do very little—as is the case in many construction sights one learns quickly. Someone yells: “We’ve found something” as they peer into the abyss. Quickly, nimbly Colm Feore as Richard, scampers up out of the trough. (just as quickly, all the construction people disappear)  He holds a sword. He’s dressed in black leather; a small hump protrudes from his back. His legs are askew, one leg bent at the knee that way, the other leg jutting the other way. The walk is halting with the heal of one leg touching down softly, the other foot drooping along but not dragging. The walk is fascinating, nimble and often quick. Here is a character who will not be disadvantaged by a physical anomaly, even though it has twisted his personality.

And then Feore speaks Richard’s first lines: “Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York….” Feore speaks in his ringing, clear, confident voice. His easy facility with Shakespeare’s language is renowned. There is such command. He is almost impish when he shares with the audience his plans for how he will be a villain and will connive, murder and manipulate his way to the Crown, not letting on that he is the centre of all the mayhem until it’s too late.

Richard’s audacity is fierce. He connives to have his trusting brother Clarence (Michael Blake) killed in jail. He stops Lady Anne (a wonderful Jessica B. Hill) on her way to bury her husband by wooing her. As Anne, Jessica B. Hill is both aghast and reviled. But when Richard urges her to kill him since she is so furious at him, she is conflicted. Jessica B. Hill takes Lady Anne through such an emotional journey in this one scene, it’s full of rage, grief, despair and pity. She knows she is doomed too, and that is heartbreaking.

Richard charms the Duke of Buckingham (a confident, courtly André Sills) to be on his side until Richard discards him. Richard plots to have his nephews killed; to marry Queen Elizabeth’s daughter and on and on.

This does not suggest it’s a clear ride for him. The royal women in the play stare him down. Seana McKenna as Queen Margaret is boiling bile when she rages in her crystalline voice at Richard for his past crimes; Lucy Peacock as Queen Elizabeth (‘poor painted Queen’) is a women who knows the fraught times in which she lives because of the dangerous Richard. It’s a performance of nuance and finesse. Diana Leblanc plays the Duchess of York, Richard’s mother. It’s a performance of anger, frustration, disgust and concern all because of her manipulative son.

Director Antoni Cimolino has filled his production with pomp, pageantry and fanfare. The tent scene before the battle of Bosworth Field is particularly impressive with billowing material, shadow and light, preparing the way for the ghosts of those Richard killed.

For some reason Cimolino has changed the gender and therefore the casting of the character of Tyrell. Tyrell is usually played as a man. Here the character is named Jane Tyrell and is played by Hilary McCormack. Tyrell is such a fascinating character; totally in despair, described as ‘discontented’ by whatever haunts him. He is asked to kill Richard’s nephews in the tower. He agrees without hesitation but one is intrigued by a character with such a deep-seated unease and unhappiness. There is such darkness and no sentiment in Tyrell. But Hilary McCormack does play Tyrell with sentiment and pity, so that she is emotionally moved by what she has arranged (two others actually do the killing). I found this confusing and seems at odds with the words.

And while one is always impressed with Colm Feore’s technical expertise with Shakespeare’s language etc. I did find his performance as Richard to be strangely unexplored as deeply as one would expect. To put all that effort into a halting limp and yet not illuminate the whole deformity when he came to the lines “Deform’d, unfinished, sent before my time/ Into this breathing world scarce half made up—” seems odd. Certainly when such lines just beg a moment to turn and show the audience and make them see,  seems like a missed opportunity. And truth to tell I found a lot of the performance let opportunities slip by without a sense nuance. Feore is commanding but I found that his performance should have gone deeper.

Still Richard III is a stirring play and the Tom Patterson Theatre is beautiful, do don’t miss the opportunity to see both.

The Stratford Festival presents:

Plays until: Oct. 30, 2022.

Running time: 3 hours approx. (including 1 intermission).

www.stratfordfestical.ca

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Live and in person at the Neighbourhood Food Hub, 1470 Gerrard St. E, Toronto, Ont. until July 3, 2022 produced by Talk Is Free Theatre.

www.tift.ca

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by Hugh Wheeler

From an adaptation by Christopher Bond

Directed by Mitchell Cushman

Musical director, Dan Rutzen

Choreographer, Cameron Carver

Set and properties by Kathleen Black

Lighting by Nick Blais

Costumes by Laura Delchiaro

Cast: Noah Beemer

Tess Benger

Joel Cumber

Gabi Epstein

Griffin Hewitt

Cyrus Lane

Jeff Lillico

Andrew Prashad

Glynis Ranney

Michael Torontow

Musicians: Samuel Bisson

Gemma Donn

Stephan Ermel

Dan Rutzen

Thrilling. Every single second of this dark, haunting musical is realized in Mitchell Cushman’s deeply imagined direction. The cast is sublime.

Background. In 2018, Arkady Spivak, the hugely creative (then) artistic producer of Talk Is Free Theatre, got the wild idea of ‘A Curious Voyage’, in which a group of adventurous people would sign on for a three-day adventure. The first day took place in Barrie, Ont. where the adventurous participants engaged in immersive role-playing and observing various theatrical activities. On the second day, first thing in the morning, the group got on a plane to London, England, landing at night, where a few more theatrical endeavors unfolded. On the third day the group engaged in various encounters with ‘strangers’ on the London streets. The day culminated with the group being taken to an abandoned building down an alley-way where they watched an immersive production of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by Mitchell Cushman and starring a stellar Canadian cast engaged for this special occasion. Then the next day, the adventurous people flew home to Canada.  

This Toronto engagement of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ‘only’ involves the production of this celebrated musical, but it is every bit as thrilling and inventive as that Curious Voyage in 2018.

The Story. It’s 1846, London, England. Anthony Hope has rescued Sweeney Todd at sea and brought him to London. Todd escaped from a prison in Australia where he had been sent by an unscrupulous judge, Judge Turpin, based in London. We learn that Judge Turpin coveted Sweeney’s wife Lucy and created a phony charge to get Sweeney out of the way so Judge Turpin could make the moves on Lucy.

Sweeney returns to his old digs in Fleet Street—he was a barber in his previous life and he was named Benjamin Barker—hoping to resume his life with his wife and their young daughter, Johanna, and get revenge on Turpin. The barber shop is above Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop and Mrs. Lovett tells him, that alas, Lucy is dead. Johanna, now a young woman, is the ward of Judge Turpin. This sends Sweeney Todd into a vengeful frenzy. Mrs. Lovett recognizes that Sweeney Todd is in fact Benjamin Barker. She says that his barber shop is exactly as it was, and she saved his precious razors. And that is the beginning of his vengeful journey.

The Production. Director Mitchell Cushman didn’t revise his previous “Curious Voyage” production of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the Neighbourhood Food Hub location on Gerrard St. E. He completely rethought every second of the production to illuminate this haunting, moving musical of revenge and regret. And Cushman also reimagined how he would have the cast utilize every part of the multi-level space. The Neighbourhood Food Hub is also a working church. At times the audience sits in the pews, on the dais, stands on the stairs going up to another level, scurries to the basement etc. Accommodation is made for those with ambulatory issues, but one must be aware that this is an immersive production in which we follow characters all over the building, sometimes quickly.

Mitchell Cushman makes us aware and watchful of everything. So that silent man (Ensemble—Joel Cumber) sitting on the steps of the Neighbourhood Food Hub, wearing torn jeans, a worn jean jacket and toque, playing the ukulele, should not be overlooked as one might a homeless person. He follows the audience around, standing on the edges, watchful of everything that unfolds. Is he humanity? Kindness? You decide.

When we enter the church sanctuary and sit in the designated pews, we note that standing in other pews are various characters in costumes of 1846, looking crazed and haunted, eyes rimmed in black shadow, lipstick askew, hair disheveled. Every face indicates the cares of that hard world.

Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” establishes the world we are about to enter and who is at the centre of it. And just as suddenly Sweeney Todd (Michael Torontow) appears, hollow-eyed, vengeful and compelling. Michael Torontow gives a performance of such relentless drive, such all consuming rage as Sweeney that it is nothing less than explosive. And yet your heart breaks for him. The proximity to such a performance is gripping. Every single character locks eyes with the audience and doesn’t let up or let us look way. We are constantly drawn into the darkness and humour of the story because of the closeness to the company.

There is so much invention in scene after scene of Mitchell Cushman’s direction it is tempting to fill a whole review with reference to scene after glorious scene. That’s not fair to future audiences—and of course the point of any review is to get people to go see the production. So here are only a few scenes that stood out in a production brimming with them. Cushman and his lighting designer, Nick Blais make wonderful use of shadow, light and silhouette. Many scenes in silhouette happen behind a white sheet. We see the interplay of characters behind the sheet. The most vivid is Judge Turpin (a charming, dangerous Cyrus Lane, who tries to whip out his lascivious thoughts about Johanna, by self-flagellation) reaching out in shadow, and elegantly moving Sweeney Todd out of the way so that the Judge can move in closer to Lucy. Simple, gut-squeezing, and effective.

Sweeney lives in a time of moral decay. People live by their wits. Sweeney begins his life of murder in practice for when he can get Judge Turpin in his barber chair to give him the closest shave he’s ever had. What to do with these ‘bodies’. Hmm. Mrs. Lovett (Glynis Ranney) is struggling in her increase her meat pie business. Hmmm? Aha!!! One does what one can, if you get my drift. Glynis Ranney plays Mrs. Lovett in a way that is so beguiling and frightening that you are left limp in your seat at the ease of duplicity. She sings “A Little Priest” with Michael Torontow as Sweeney that has a hint of joy between these two characters as they differentiate between meat pies considering ‘who’ represents the filling.  

Getting rid of the bodies as Sweeney gives shave after shave to unsuspecting customers is again bristling with imagination and elegance because of Mitchell Cushman’s creative effectiveness. It’s almost balletic with a touch of weightlifting.

The cast is sublime. And while it’s so pedestrian to just list the actor and their character, to do so with a total description would take up too much of your time, when you should be just getting a ticket. Gabi Epstein is a crazed and mysterious Beggar Woman who has obviously seen and experienced something that has changed her life. You won’t soon forget her haunted eyes. Jeff Lillico as Pirelli is arrogant, humourous and not who he seems. Griffin Hewitt as Anthony Hope is a man consumed with love for Johanna and desperate to have her in his life. As Johanna, Tess Benger is beguiling, ‘innocent’ and yet knowing. Noah Beemer as Tobias Ragg is a young man who would do anything to protect Mrs. Lovett. He is eager, loving, sweet and perhaps fragile minded with what he too has endured. And Andrew Prashad is a very proud Beadle, knows the power of his position and how to use it. Every one of these actors sings beautifully, in a strong, compelling voice. Each one invests 100% into illuminating their troubled, mesmerizing characters. It’s to their great credit and their gifted director that even when we think someone is a villain, there is such nuance and shading that we aren’t sure.    

Comment. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of Stephen Sondheim’s darkest, most compelling musicals. It’s about those troubled people we pass on the street without ‘seeing’ them. What Mitchell Cushman and his gifted cast have done in this glorious production is make us look, consider and pay attention.

Talk Is Free Theatre presents:

Running until: July 3, 2022.

Running Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes, approx. (1 intermission)

www.tift.ca

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Live and in person at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Mirvish Productions, Toronto, Ont, until July 17, 2022.

www.mirvish.com

Created and performed by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt

Directed by Richard Greenblatt and Ted Dykstra

Production designer, Steve Lucas

Sound by John Lott

The Story. 2 Pianos 4 Hands is the musical journey of Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt of discovering the joys and pitfalls of learning to play the piano. It’s about the euphoria you get when playing classical music with such ease it’s like it’s embedded in the finger tips. And it’s about realizing that being as brilliant on the piano as Vladimir Horowitz might be unattainable, but being as good at playing the piano as Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt is a pretty good alternative.

The Production. In Steve Lucas’ simple production design, two Yamaha grand pianos face each other on the Royal Alexandra stage. A large picture frame is suspended behind each piano. As the show progresses projections of different window frames will appear in each large picture frame suggesting a change in location and perhaps a change in time.

Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt enter from either side of the stage. They are formally dressed: Ted Dykstra in black tie. vest and tails and Richard Greenblatt in white tie, white vest and black tails. They each sit on the piano bench, facing each other. Dykstra fusses over his bench, touching it, the piano, the bench, adjusting the distance of the bench from the piano then indicating that perhaps it would be better if he had Greenblatt’s bench, so they swap. Dykstra frets. Greenblatt is impatient and frustrated. When all is settled, they then play Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052, 1^st Movement, with confidence, style, concentration and total commitment.

In this small beginning scene the stage is set for the infectious humour that fills 2 Pianos 4 Hands. We get an insight into the peculiar world of gifted musicians and the rituals they need to complete in order to be comfortable enough to perform at such a high level.

Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt take us from when they were 10 years old, known as Teddy and Richie, struggling in their own way to learn the intricacies and mysteries of time signatures, the value of the various notes, learning the many codes for the names of the lines, the difference between major and minor chords and other baffling secrets that eluded them. As 10-year-old kids, both Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt show a confusion that is endearing and heartwarming. You don’t need to know the minutiae of music to appreciate what each kid was going through—we have all had to contend with concepts that left us baffled, be it the mysteries of music, math or science etc. 2 Pianos 4 Hands put us instantly in that world.

At times Dykstra would be the boy learning the piano and Greenblatt would be the frustrated but patient teacher, at other times they switched positions. Each man brings his own brand of humour to the part.

Somehow each boy went through the ritual of finding every excuse not to practice, then unlocking the mysteries of music and wanting to practice for the latest competition, getting better and better and more confident at playing. They dealt with the realities of blunt teachers who questioned why they were in music any way—Dykstra’s face creased at such a disappointment it squeezed the heart; Greenblatt dealt with his disappointment in his own stoical way, but was still moving. They both embraced playing classical music with verve, conviction, commitment and joy and the result was thrilling.

2 Pianos 4 Hands was first done in 1996 at the Tarragon Theatre where I first saw it. Over the years Dykstra and Greenblatt have tweaked, finessed and refined the show. They are a bit older than they were in 1996 but 2 Pianos 4 Hands is as fresh, moving and joyful as it was when it was first done all those years ago.

2 Pianos 4 Hands is pure joy. It results in a theatre full of smiling people jumping to their feet, clapping with enthusiasm. The show is a gift. See it.

David Mirvish presents, The Marquis Entertainment Inc. & Talking Fingers Inc.

Plays until: July 17, 2022.

Running Time: 2 hours, 5 minutes. (1 intermission)

www.mirvish.com

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Comments on the final weekend of the Wee Festival for very young audiences 0-6 years old.

Comments after each synopsis etc.

Letters from Drawing Town – Lettres de la ville-peinture

Valise Théâtre (Québec)

English:

“When you’re little, you do what you want.
Your dreams are a total space of freedom.
You fly with birds, you talk with flowers and you walk with trees.”
– Mojtaba Moaf, Director

Once there was a little boy with an immense imagination who loved to invent and draw strange and fantastic creatures. His bedroom walls begin to fill with drawings and so he decides to build a big paper city where all his friends can live!

Young audiences are invited on a journey into a poetic meeting of theatre and graphic arts. It will invite you to dive into an imaginary universe filled with drawings, objects, shadows and video projections.

Letters from Drawing Town Creative Team

Story and illustration by Arash Badrtalei
Direction by Mojtaba Moaf
Performance by Paola Huitron and Mojtaba Moaf
Decor and puppets by Isabelle Chretien & Akram Asghari
Videography by Mahmood Poursaee
Music by Tissa
Lighting design by Mathieu Marcil
Artistic consultation by Sabrina Baran
Direction consultation by Ghazaleh Moradiyan
Pop-Up by Cecile Viggiano
Assistant Direction by Rhayssa Freire
Construction of decor by Marcus Tissier

About Valise Théâtre

The performance was in English and I found it lagged just a bit. The world for this young audience was created by shadow, silhouette images behind a lit screen, stick figures that represented animals, fish and birds, of the little boy’s imagination.

The boy was encouraged to draw by his father. He filled his room with black and white images. When the boy grew up he became and artist. But he realized that his world of drawing was only black and white. He needed colour and so he invited the young audience out into the lobby to fill in little black and white drawings with colour.

The kids were curious, fascinated and attentive. One little girl did say to her mother: “I don’t like this movie. I want to go home.” An assuring cuddle convinced the child to stay. And she was then eager to draw in colour when the show was finished. Shows like this are fascinating for the way children will lead the way, if you just let them.

A mother in front of me kept pointing out things on the stage to her your daughter. I just wanted to gently tell her to let the kid discover on her own and look at it from her young eyes, and not from her mother’s adult eyes. Sigh.

HauNodi 河 নদী

Ruby Sinha and Diana Tso (Ontario)

The title HauNodi (pronounced haw-no-thi), combines the Cantonese and Bengali words for river, a powerful metaphor that has inspired this performance by two seasoned storytellers.  Rubena Sinha and Diana Tso invite children on a journey on a river of words, music, and movement with a stories inspired by their respective cultures from the birth of the Ganges to a magic paintbrush wielded by a brave young girl.

 河 Cantonese
নদী  Bengali 

A 2022 WeeFestival “Seedling Show”! Be the first to share in this beautiful story performed by the dynamic duo of Ruby Sinha and Diana Tso.

HauNodi 河 নদী Creative Team
Created and Performed by Diana Tso and Ruby Sinha
Third-Eye and Dramaturgy by Lynda Hill

HauNodi is a WeeFestival “Seedling” commission.

About Ruby Sinha and Diana Tso

Over the past thirty years, Rubena Sinha has been involved in the creation of numerous cross cultural performances in Canada; primarily as Founder and Artistic Director of Fusion Dance Theatre, Inc based in Winnipeg. Trained as a classical dancer in India, Canadian for most of her life, and now based in Toronto, Rubena interweaves stories of personal history and experience with Hindu mythology and folktales – creating a world in which the listener encounters talking animals and the forces of nature, Gods and Goddesses and members of her family – all in a quest to find meaning and value in the face of life’s challenges. 

Diana Tso is a Dora award winning theatre artist, storyteller, actor, playwright and a theatre faculty member at George Brown College. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA hons in English Literature and Ecole Internationale de Théâtre de Jacques Lecoq in France. Her most recent performances include Modern Times Stage Company’s The Cherry Orchard, Theatre Smith- Gilmour’s Les Misérables, Stratford Festival’s 2017 season in Bakkhai and The Komagata Maru Incident. Her Red Snow Collective empowers women’s voices and re-imagines mythologies through female perspectives

Comment: I loved watching this ‘seedling’ show as it begins its journey of creation. Ruby Sinha and Diana Tso create the river with a beautifully long blue/green scarf of material that they stretched to its full length on the floor. They flipped it in the air, twirled it like a snake as the river curved and flowed. Ruby Sinha sang a song in Bengali and Diana Tso sang one in Cantonese. I was grateful when one of the mothers in the audience at the talk back asked what languages they were speaking in. They are noted in the show description, but it’s good for the next iteration of the show to tell the audience specifically what languages are being used. The audience participates in singing in both languages. Love that inclusion.

Kudos to Lynda Hill for curating another Wee Festival for young audiences. I loved the imagination, creativity and artistry of the various companies and their shows that I saw. And of course, the most important thing is learning about discovery from the young audiences.

I look forward to next year’s Wee Festival.

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Live and in person at the Festival Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. until Oct. 30. www.stratfordfest.

Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse

Music by John Kander

Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins

Script adaptation by David Thompson

Director/choreographer, Donna Feore

Musical director, Franklin Brasz

Set by Michael Gianfrancesco

Costumes by Dana Osborne

Lighting by Michael Walton

Sound by Peter McBoyle

Cast: Eric Abel

Gabriel Antonacci

Robert Ball

Devon Michael Brown

Sandra Caldwell

Celeste Catena

Dan Chameroy

Amanda De Freitas

Henry Firmston

Bonnie Jordan

Heather Kosik

Bethany Kovarik

Amanda Lundgren

Jordan Mah

Chad McFadden

R. Markus

Stephen Patterson

Chelsea Preston

Jennifer Rider-Shaw

Steve Ross

Philip Seguin

Plus other dancers/singers

A rousing, raucous Chicago to welcome us back to the theatre, heavy on exuberance and speed, light on depth, nuance and realizing the cynicism of the piece.

The Story. This is Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse’s 1975 story of murder, mayhem and cynicism of a group of murderesses in Chicago in 1928 who were in jail for their crimes. Roxie Hart killed her boyfriend Fred Casely because he was going to walk out on her. She shot him and then convinced her hapless, but devoted husband, Amos, to take the blame. Amos was told by Roxie that the guy was a burglar, until he learned the truth. Velma Kelly did a vaudeville act with her sister until she found her sister in bed with her husband, so Velma killed both her sister and her cheating husband. Both Roxie and Velma engage slick-lawyer Billy Flynn to take their cases (separately). Billy Flynn knew every angle on milking and turning the press to his/his client’s advantage. Roxie was wilier and more street smart than Velma.

The Production and comment. The usual first line of Chicago is “Ladies and Gentlemen, you are about to see a story of greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery…all those things we hold near and dear to our hearts.” But in David Thompson’s adaptation something new is afoot. The line now begins, “Ladies, Gentlemen, Everyone….”  indicating that in this enlightened world gender fluidity is acknowledged with “Everyone.”

Now that we are back in the Festival Theatre with its thrust stage, after an absence of two long years, director/choreographer Donna Feore has taken the rare opportunity to re-imagine Chicago. This means that one is not locked into re-producing Bob Fosse’s original and very distinctive choreography, with its hip thrusts, slinky sexiness and drop-dead cynicism of that dark time. It means that one does not have to go deep into the story to realize the nuance, subtleties, cynicism, greed, immorality, exploitation and all the darkness of the original because that is not the intention of this production. The intention of Donna Feore’s raucous, fast and furiously danced production is to have a good time, and certainly everybody in that boisterous opening night audience did that to the hilt. Feore’s choreography goes at break-neck speed and her dancers give their all, smiling, no matter how dastardly their characters, gyrate, high-kick, flip and fly through the air, leaving everybody, including the audience, breathless and smiling. If one doesn’t pay too much attention to the joyfully smiling singer-actor and the cynicism of the lyrics they are singing, one won’t find too much of a disconnect in this superficial production.

The Stratford Festival production of Chicago is light on depth and heavy on exuberance. Many of the performances of the minor characters are like cartoon characters, over-played, and ‘big’. While Roxie Hart (Chelsea Preston) and Velma Kelly (Jennifer Rider-Shaw) are two separate characters with Roxie being more calculating than Velma among other aspects, I found that aside from different coloured wigs, it was hard telling Roxie from Velma on the basis of performance. Both Chelsea Preston as Roxie and Jennifer Rider-Shaw as Velma are good dancer-singers, but there was little in the way of differentiating between the two of them. As I said, realizing the depth of character was not the point. Pure entertainment was the point.

There are two exceptions to this thought: Steve Ross as Amos Hart (Roxie’s hapless husband) and Dan Chameroy, the silver-tongued Billy Flynn, the lawyer with all the angles for manipulation. Steve Ross as Amos gives the most sublime, subtle performance of a man who loves his wife to bits, but is ignored and forgotten by her and mostly everybody he meets. He’s a loving, decent but simple man and it’s easy to take advantage of him. Ross is deeply moving when he sings “Mister Cellophane”, explaining how people “look right through” him and don’t remember his name. It’s a performance of detail, thought and a beating heart.

Dan Chameroy as Billy Flynn has the easy movement of a man in total control. He’s got flash and pizazz and is totally compelling. He knows how to keep his clients guessing and desperate, and everybody else unbalanced.  Flynn embodies the song “Razzle Dazzle” in which the flash and pizazz overpower the reality that it’s all fakery:

Give ’em the old Razzle Dazzle
Razzle dazzle ’em
Give ’em a show that’s so splendiferous

Row after row will crow vociferous

Give ’em the old flim flam flummox
Fool and fracture ’em

How can they hear the truth above the roar?

Interestingly, Dan Chameroy as Billy Flynn sings that song realizing all the smarts and depth of it. Two beautiful performances from Steve Ross and Dan Chameroy.

Donna Feore’s superficial production of Chicago is a rousing way to welcome an eager, willing audience back into the theatre to cheer and roar, no matter what.

The Stratford Festival Presents:

Plays until: Oct. 30, 2022

Running Time: approx. 2 hours, 30 minutes.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

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Live and in person at the Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. Hamlet continues at the Stratford Festival.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Peter Pasyk

Set designed by Patrick Lavender

Costumes by Michelle Bohm

Lighting designed by Kimberly Purtell

Composer and sound designed by Richard Feren

Cast: Graham Abbey

Maev Beaty

Austin Eckert

Jakob Ehman

Ijeoma Emesowum

Matthew Kabwe

John Kirkpatrick

Kevin Kruchkywich

Josue Laboucane

Andrea Rankin

Anthony Santiago

Tyrone Savage

Michael Spencer-Davis

Norman Yeung

And others.

Interesting attempt by director Peter Pasik to freshen up Hamlet resulting in some less than helpful decisions for the play.  But at the centre is the assured, gripping performance of Amaka Umeh as Hamlet.

The Story. Prince Hamlet is in mourning. His beloved father Hamlet Sr. died suddenly two months ago and his mother, Queen Gertrude, married Claudius, Hamlet Sr’s brother, almost immediately. This swiftness adds to Hamlet’s concern. He has come home to Elsinore from school in Wittenberg to mourn his father’s death rather than celebrate his mother’s  marriage.

And strange things are happening in Elsinore. There is talk of the Ghost of Hamlet Sr. being spotted roaming by palace guards who are on duty at night. Hamlet is alerted. He ‘meets’ the Ghost who says he was poisoned by his brother, Claudius. This enrages Hamlet and he surges into action to cut himself off from his girlfriend Ophelia and plot the downfall of his uncle. It’s messy and ends badly for everybody except Horatio, Hamlet’s trusted school friend.

The Production and comment. The production was delayed for about two years because of COVID and then other blips and delays interfered, and finally, Hamlet  opened this 70^th celebratory season of the Stratford Festival, with the gifted Amaka Umeh as Hamlet, as planned.

I can appreciate a young director, like Peter Pasyk, who is given a plum assignment such as Hamlet at a prestigious theatre festival such as Stratford, and he wants to flex his creative muscles and breathe new life into the piece, add a modern component that speaks to a different audience. I get it. But as Pasyk cut the play and added and melded scenes, I had to wonder what the point was if the power of the play was diminished. After all, the reason we are in the room is the play.

Pasyk has set the play in modern times. Michelle Bohen’s costumes for the men are stylish suits, understated but fashionable clothes for Gertrude (Maev Beaty), and hip clothes for Hamlet’s school friends and Ophelia (Andrea Rankin). Horatio (Jakob Ehman) is in casual wear. Hamlet, as befitting a grieving son, wears a black doublet, skinny black pants and boots. Considering  our  technical age, cell phones are used, especially by Polonius to see what messages Hamlet sent Ophelia for any incriminating comments. When Polonius (Michael Spencer-Davis) and Claudius (Graham Abbey) eavesdrop on a conversation Ophelia is to have with Hamlet, the Palace tech-guy puts a ‘wire’ on her so they could over hear the comments. Lots of security people in that palace talk into their wrist watches to communicate with each other. I didn’t see any ear wires for the same purpose, but perhaps I just didn’t see such a device in the darkness of certain scenes in Kimberly Purtell’s  lighting design.

As the audience files into the theatre, an imposing man in a suit and wearing a dark face mask, surveys the audience from edge of the stage. Behind him is a see through rectangle and in it is the body of Hamlet Sr. laying in state. When the production starts proper, the man is now at the top of the balcony overlooking the audience and the body of the dead king. The man carefully takes off his mask and moves his mouth around in pronounced movements as if his face and mouth have been encased in that mask for two years. The audience laughs because they get the joke—they all have been wearing that confining mask for two years and this is perhaps the first time for many people to be in a theatre with others.

Then the guard looks down on the body of the late king laying in state and he goes down to stage level, looks over into the box of the king and puts his hands on the sides of the box for a closer look,  which sets off the alarm that indicates someone is touching the box. A double laugh here too.  

Here’s the problem, with acknowledging that joke of the mask and the inadvertent setting off of the alarm,  it upstages one of the most gripping first scenes of any play, never mind Shakespeare, that something is terrifying the people on guard at that palace and it’s the ghost of Hamlet Sr. (Matthew Kabwe). The guards are so spooked that even when they don’t hear something in the gloom, they yell: “Who’s there!” The actors have to work awfully hard to get the audience back into the play with that ‘original’ first scene and truth to tell, as it was played on that small balcony with a mirrored wall behind them, the scene is confusing and muddy.  

I wonder why director Peter Pasyk did that to the play, upstage it with ‘business?’ I  wonder where the body is in the palace in such a clear box/coffin/casket ? Is he still laying in state two months after his death and just after Gertrude and Claudus got married? Why? Is that a custom in Denmark to have the body visible like Lenin’s tomb? And really, the guard wouldn’t know that the casket was ‘armed’ if someone touched it?  I don’t think so, not even if he just got the guarding-gig. Logic does have to enter into a director’s choices, it’s not just on a whim.

Hamlet is delighted when he’s told the Players have arrived. He’s loved their work in the past and is familiar with their abilities, especially with the Player King (Anthony Santiago). So again it’s puzzling why Peter Pasyk inserted a scene in which the Players sing a lilting song to a ukulele accompaniment, which diminishes them to the level of a ‘hippy group’ of troubadours. Again it diminishes their importance.

The Mousetrap Scene where Hamlet will catch the conscience of the king and trap him in his deceit is effective when Claudius gradually sees what is happening there—he’s faced with how he managed to kill his brother—yells for  “Light!! Give me some light!” and the whole auditorium snaps up with light for intermission. Very effective.

Claudius has a scene after this in which he faces his darkness at what he’s done. He usually is at prayer trying to find solace, but also to acknowledge what he’s done. Pasyk has decided to have Claudius offer part of his confession to Polonius, telling him what he did. I suck air really slowly here. Why on earth would you do that—share this information with another member of court? It makes no sense. Is this improving on Shakespeare? I think not. Is this trying to show that Polonius is also complicit in what is going on there? We know that. It’s in the words of the play! Look how he treats his daughter. We don’t need the obvious underlined. Again this is a mystifying decision by the director, that again weakens the play.

Graham Abbey is a fascinating, charming Claudius, so convincing as a caring step-father, and Michael Spencer-Davis is a lively Polonius, Maev Beaty seems almost understated as Gertrude and Andrea Rankin is fragile-minded as Ophelia. So much of this production seems half-baked. It’s cut so much that often the reasons for lines are removed. I don’t think it’s enough to know that Laertes (Austin Eckert)  has a powerful poison that he will use to win his sword-fight with Hamlet, we have to know that he bought it from ‘a mountebank’ in France. That’s a fascinating look into the kind of man Laertes is, and that he purposefully bought it is cut from his speech. Mystifying. So much of this production requires further, deeper thought so that choices make sense. Up to a point it’s “Hamlet-Lite” = Hamlite.

But  the play rests on the shoulders of Amaka Umeh as Hamlet. This is a performance brimming with intelligence, energy, dazzling wit, confidence in the language and how to speak it, and a bracing, compelling  presence. The performance is fearless, quixotic, moving and heart-breaking. At one point Hamlet removes his doublet to reveal a kind of undershirt. What we see are protuberances that are either small breasts or pectoral muscles. It’s the first time there is even a thought to the gender of the actor playing the lead because the performance is so assured in realizing the depth of the character. Talent will all. Talent removes even the thought of knowing the gender of the actor playing Hamlet.

At the bow, a beaming Amaka Umeh leads the company in a unified bow from the waist. Then Amaka Umeh steps forward for the ‘star-bow’ and with a flourish performs the most elaborate theatrical courtesy you ever saw, informing one and all that one gifted woman played one of the hardest parts in literature, and she was brilliant.    

The Stratford Festival Presents:

Continues at the Stratford Festival.

Running time: 3 hours, 1 intermission.

www.stratfordfest.

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