detroit-review
Karen Fricker
Karen Fricker is Intermission’s editorial director and adjunct professor of Dramatic Arts at Brock University. She has worked as a critic in Toronto, London (UK), Dublin, and New York City, and has a PhD in theatre studies from Trinity College, Dublin. Sustaining the field of theatre criticism in our digital age is a big focus of her work, through academic research projects and training/mentorship ventures including Page Turn and Youareacritic.com. She is co-director of the international research network Circus and its Others, and has researched the Eurovision Song Contest for two glorious decades and counting.
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iPhoto caption: Headshot of Antoni Cimolino. Photo by Ted Belton.
“You want to choose things that feel important to the moment,” he says about building a Stratford Festival season. “If you choose plays and they don’t resonate, it’s very hurtful. You believe in them and the power of them.”
iPhoto caption: Members of the company in 'Ransacking Troy.' Photo by David Hou.
REVIEW: At the Stratford Festival, two adventurous new plays reflect on war
Erin Shields’ brilliant Ransacking Troy reimagines one of Western culture’s foundational narratives — the Trojan War — from the perspective of the women implicated in it. And in The Art of War, Yvette Nolan thoughtfully imagines the life of a Canadian soldier-artist in the Second World War, who’s wracked both by what he witnesses and the responsibility of recording it.
iPhoto caption: Philip Myers as Mamillius (left) and Lucy Peacock as Time in 'The Winter's Tale.' Photo by David Hou.
Stratford Festival reviews: The Winter’s Tale and Anne of Green Gables
A winter story told by a melancholy child and a fanatical Lucy Maud Montgomery book club help frame the final two productions in the Stratford Festival’s 2025 opening week.
iPhoto caption: Graphic by Krystal Abrigo.
York University’s Facing Backlash symposium builds solidarities in tough times
The symposium’s two packed days felt to me like the collective pursuit of an elusive, shape-shifting prey. But as participants shared experiences, and common-interest groups opened up their internal dialogue to the rest of the symposium, the contours of what we’re all up against started to come into focus for me, and I felt a collective sense of purpose growing.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: Guillermo Verdecchia’s Feast is a fascinating text, but Tarragon’s new production feels hazy
I found the play really resonant and rich and layered. It’s about globalization, privilege, travel, displacement, and inequity, and it brought up many associations and past experiences for me. But I don’t feel that Soheil Parsa’s production fully comes together.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Marie-Andree Lemire.
REVIEW: Titaníque loves Céline Dion with all its heart
Content quibbles aside, Titaníque’s inarguable accomplishment is musical: What an amazing showcase for a Canadian cast’s vocal chops and capacity to deliver character through song.
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