Tag Archives: William Shakespeare

Robert Lepage’s Macbeth at Stratford

Posted on September 6, 2025 by barczablog

Bruce asked me whether the Scottish play is worth seeing. I had seen it from the front row, able to see every detail of the complex presentation in the Avon Theatre, less Shakespeare’s immortal play than Robert Lepage’s Macbeth. YMMV … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews | Tagged 887, Avon Theatre, Bertold Brecht, Bluebeard's Castle, Canadian Opera Company, Eonnagata, erwartung, Ex Machina, Gesamtkunstwerk, John Gzowski, Lucy Peacock, Macbeth, Needles and Opium, Richard Wagner, Robert Lepage, Stratford Festival, The Tempest, Tom McCamus, Verfremdungseffekt, William Shakespeare, YMMV | 2 Comments

Falling for Sky Gilbert’s Shakespeare Lied and other bardish books

Posted on August 17, 2025 by barczablog

I want to explain where I’m coming from, as I review the second of three books from Sky Gilbert about William Shakespeare. Shakespeare Lied appeared in 2024, while Shakespeare Beyond Science came out in 2020. My response this time (over … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged 1939, books, Heratio, Leslie Hotson, literature, Mr WH, Paul Streitz, Richard Paul Roe, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Beyond Science, Shakespeare by Hilliard, Shakespeare Lied, Sky Gilbert, The Shakespeare Guide to Italy, theatre, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Heratio premieres at the Guild Festival Theatre

Posted on August 11, 2025 by barczablog

I’ve just seen Genevieve Adam’s Heratio, a new play that picks up from where Hamlet ended. It’s another of the scripts that build on Shakespeare, with much of the fun coming if you know the original, as in Stoppard’s Rosenkrantz … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged 1939, Clowns Reading Shakespeare, Fortinbras, Genevieve Adam, Guild Festival Theatre, Hamlet, Helen Juvonen, Heratio, Horatio, Jack Davidson, Janelle Hanna, Jani Lauzon, Kaitlyn Riordan, Kenzia Dalie, Philippa Domville, Phoenix Fyre, Rashaana Cumberbatch, Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Scarborough, Siobhan Richardson, Tom Stoppard, William Shakespeare | 1 Comment

Asking Genevieve Adam about her newest play Heratio

Posted on July 21, 2025 by barczablog

On August 8th Guild Festival Theatre will be giving the world premiere performance of Heratio, a re-imagining of Hamlet that picks up the story where Shakespeare left off, giving voice to the women and servants who are left to clean … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Interviews, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Genevieve Adam, Guild Festival Theatre, Hamlet, Helen Juvonen, Heratio, In Conversation With Classics, Jack Davidson, Janelle Hanna, Philippa Domville, Phoenix Fire, Rashaana Cumberbatch, Scarborough, Shakespeare, Siobhan Richardson, theatre, William Shakespeare, writing | 1 Comment

Kenzia Dalie explains Clowns Reading Shakespeare

Posted on May 25, 2025 by barczablog

After a couple years of development (and many laughs), Kenzia Dalie is ready to share the full version of Clowns Reading Shakespeare, a show coming to parks east (Kew Gardens) and west (Memorial Park) in Toronto in June. A multidisciplinary … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Interviews | Tagged Alyssa Pothier, Brendon Kinnon, Callan Forester, clowns, Clowns Reading Shakespeare, family-friendly, Full Haus Productions, Hamlet, Kenzia Dalie, Macbeth, Panoply Theatre Collective, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, Sienna Singh, theatre, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Unexpected light in 1939

Posted on September 21, 2024 by barczablog

Last night I watched 1939, a recent play by Jani Lauzon and Kaitlyn Riordan at Berkeley St Theatre, a brilliant snapshot of the madness of residential schools and resilience in response. It’s a Canadian Stage and Belfry theatre joint production … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged 1939, Belfry Theatre, Brefny Caribou, Canadian Stage, Canadian Stage Company, Catherine Fitch, Cree, Grace Lamarche, Indigenous, Jani Lauzon, John Wamsley, Kaitlyn Riordan, Merewyn Comeau, Mohawk, Nathan Howe, Ojibwe, Richard Comeau, Stratford Festival, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Rossini’s Otello from Opera By Request

Posted on June 26, 2023 by barczablog

Last night I watched a concert presentation of Rossini’s Otello from Opera By Request, a company who demonstrate their importance with every outing. Bill Shookhoff leads from the piano working without a conductor, seated upstage of performers who face the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Arrigo Boito, Berio di Salsa, Bill Shookhoff, College Street United Church, Ernesto Ramirez, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Meagan Reimer, Opera by Request, Otello, Othello, Paul Williamson, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Creepy COC Macbeth

Posted on May 1, 2023 by barczablog

On a dark rainy day in the midst of Toronto’s traffic chaos I was rendered speechless by the new Canadian Opera Company production of Verdi’s Macbeth directed by Sir David McVicar. I never knew this opera could move me so … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Adam Luther, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Canadian Opera Company, Clarence Frazer, Four Seasons Centre, Giuseppe Verdi, Louis Quilico, Macbeth, Matthew Cairns, Quinn Kelsey, Tracy Cantin, Vartan Gabrielian, William Shakespeare | 7 Comments

Preview of immersive Titus

Posted on August 31, 2022 by barczablog

I’ve just seen a preview of Who’s Afraid of Titus, Sky Gilbert’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s early play Titus Andronicus. They used the Red Sandcastle Theatre, a space associated with horror through proprietor Eric Woolfe and his Eldritch Theatre cohort. No … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged Aida, Eric Woolfe, Immersive, King Lear, Madhouse Variations, Red Sandcastle Theatre, Sky Gilbert, Stratford Festival, Sweeney Todd, TIFT, Titus, Titus Andronicus, Who's afraid of Titus, William Shakespeare | 2 Comments

Interviewing Mike Fan | 范祖铭 (they) aka Tanya Smania (she): probing Tatyana’s Secret

Posted on August 25, 2022 by barczablog

I’m intrigued by the upcoming production of Tanya’s Secret produced by Opera Queens, an adaptation of Eugene Onegin, a work that seems to invite questions. Mike Fan | 范祖铭 (they) aka Tanya Smania (she) is the artistic director and driving … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Interviews, Opera, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged Eugene Onegin, Four Last Songs, gender, Mike Fan | 范祖铭 (they) aka Tanya Smania (she), Opera Queens, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovky, Queer theory, Richard Strauss, Shakespeare in Love, Sky Gilbert, Tanya's Secret, Titus, William Shakespeare | 3 Comments